The Conversation
New Zealand and the United States are the only high-income countries to allow unrestricted direct-to-consumer advertising of branded medicines, including the name of the drug and the condition for which it is prescribed.
Our recent analysis explores why most other countries outlaw this controversial practice. We review evidence that direct advertising can lead to overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatments, causing potential harm and higher health costs.
Direct advertising of prescription medicines, primarily through television and print media, developed in the US and New Zealand during the 1990s in the absence of any new legislation or a specific ban.