How Pharmaceutical Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Effects Prescription Drug Prices & Sales in Urban vs. Rural Markets

The pharmaceutical market is one of, if not the, most heavily regulated industries. This includes the promotion of pharmaceuticals, where even today only the United States and New Zealand allow broadcast direct-to-consumer advertising. The United States has only allowed it since the FDA changed promotion guidelines in 1995. Since then, direct-to-consumer advertising has had an impact on all facets of the pharmaceutical industry including sales, prices, patient adherence and physician decision-making. Most of the data on this topic is only up until 2005. This study seeks to update this data and takes a specific look at how direct-to-consumer advertising affects rural vs. urban markets. Prior studies have suggested that patients in rural markets respond differently to pharmaceutical advertising than patients in urban markets. Current data shows that rural consumers are spending more on prescription drugs than urban consumers and while the reason for this cannot be directly pointed to advertising, theory suggests that it could certainly be a factor in this divide.