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The American Medical Association (AMA) has decided to defer action for at least one year on urging a proposed ban on consumer advertising for new prescription drugs that critics say increases health-care costs and poses risks for patients.
AMA delegates asked for more study of a call by some members for pharmaceutical companies to ban or declare a moratorium on the estimated $3 billion in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich sent a letter to the AMA urging that it request the ban on the drug advertising, saying the industry cared more about profits than patients.
"Doctors know more than just about anybody else about the challenges their patients face getting safe and affordable medications," the governor's spokeswoman, Abby Ottenhoff, said.
Experts say heavy advertising for a class of painkillers, including Merck's Vioxx®, persuaded millions of patients - many of whom doctors believe did not need to switch to the more expensive drugs - to ask their doctors to prescribe them.
Late last year, Vioxx® was pulled from the market after it was shown to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, a development critics said showed the dangers of promoting drugs that must later be recalled.
Other drugs with heavy advertising treat erectile dysfunction and allergies.
If you believe that you or a relative were injured by taking Vioxx® please use the form below to contact our law firm.
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