Friday, November 09, 2007

The Power of Marketing: Name That Drug

I like the evening news. Being in the hospital, I never know what's happening in the outside world.

But it's getting harder and harder to watch the news anymore, since most of the news isn't about the outside world anymore, but rather about medically-related drug ads. Go ahead. Count them. I did. 12 drugs in a 30-minute news show (if one includes One-a-Day Viamins for Men as a drug). So here's my revenge...

Below are five pictures of marketing creatures/images developed by the pharmaceutical companies. These companies are required to state their side effects by FDA rules now, so I thought I'd see how well my readership can recall the side effect profiles and see if they can match them with the drug!

Now, you mustn't cheat. Please try to guess these without doing an extensive literature search. See if you can remember them and then answer the poll in the right sidebar of this blog. I'll post the answers in a few days, after everyone has had a chance.

Have fun!

A


B


C


D


E


Okay, here are the list of side effects, in random order:

(1) dysgeusia (bad taste in the mouth), dry mouth
(2) decreased testosterone levels and/or elevated prolactin levels
(3) chest pain, arthritis, liver failure
(4) prolonged QT interval, dry mouth, constipation
(5) elevated intraocular pressure, wheezing, hypersentivity reactions

Now go the sidebar and place the series of side effects from drugs A through E in the correct order.

Best of luck!

-Wes

3 comments:

Margaret Polaneczky, MD (aka TBTAM) said...

I have NO idea - probably because I don't watch the news. Now if it were an ad on Thursay night when The Office is on....

Anonymous said...

I'm going to go ahead and consider it a success that I can't actually recall what 4 of the 5 drugs are just from the imagery, although I remember what 3 of 5 are for.

DrWes said...

rachel-

There are no losers in this game, except of course, the patients who've been paid for and been coerced by these images...