Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, ...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD R-Tenn newly called for pharmaceutical companies to voluntarily forgo direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of novel drugs for two years after the put drugs intos were first marketed in the United States. Frist, a cardiologist, also is seeking a direction Accountability Office (GAO) review of the U cheer and Drug Administration's oversight of prescription physic activities. In a July 1 2005 alphabetic character to U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, Frist noted that a 2002 GAO report fix that pharmaceutical manufacturers had increased spending in succession DTC advertising more rapidly than spending forward research and new drug disclosure Between 1997 and 2001, spending onward DTC ads increased 145 percent compared with a 59 percent increase in research and disclosure spending during that period. According to Frist, the 2002 report conclud that "DTC advertising appears to increase prescription remedy spending and utilization. Drugs that are promot directly to consumer ofttimes are among the best-selling put drugs intos and sales for DTC-advertised remedys have increased faster than sales for medicines that are not heavily advertised to consumers"

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