Prescription Prices and Direct to Consumer Advertising

处方价格和直接面向消费者的广告

• 批准号: 7288366
• 负责人: Henry Saffer
• 金额: $ 12.38万
• 依托单位: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-30 至 2009-09-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7288366
• 关键词: Prescription; Prices; Direct; Consumer; Advertising

DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): The empirical work outlined in this proposal is designed to estimate the effects of direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs on the price of prescription drugs. In 1997, the Federal Trade Commission relaxed the rules governing DTC advertising, which resulted in a substantial increase in DTC advertising. Recently, DTC advertising has become a controversial national issue. Any evaluation of DTC advertising should take into account estimates of both its benefits and its costs to consumers. The benefits to consumers are health information. The costs to consumers are higher drug prices. However, there are no empirical estimates of the effect of the increased DTC advertising on prescription drug prices. The primary purpose of this proposal is to inform on the cost of DTC advertising by estimating what fraction of the increase in drug prices and spending can be attributed to the increased advertising. Advertising can be included in the demand for prescription drugs since it can increase the marginal utility of consumption. Advertising can also increase price by shifting demand or by decreasing the price elasticity of demand. If advertising differentiates the product and reduces the perception that substitutes are available, then demand becomes less price responsive. According to the Lerner rule, a more inelastic demand curve will result in a higher price, ceteris paribus. The data set will a monthly pool of all the available drugs in four therapeutic classes: 1) arthritis, 2) high cholesterol, 3) ulcers and 4) insomnia. These therapeutic classes were chosen since they include one or more drugs with relatively high levels of DTCA spending and other drugs with little or no DTCA. The estimation will be done separately for each therapeutic class. Two price variables and advertising data from television, radio and magazines will be collected. Endogeneity between promotional expenditures and sales is a concern. The primary approach to estimating consistent effects will make use of the exogenous shift in DTCA resulting from the FDA's policy change. This natural experiment is akin to a pre-post comparison conditioning on various other controls over time and across drugs in each class. Since the firm can be observed in two regimes, one where DTCA is restricted and one where it is not, this allows an exogenous comparison of a group of drugs with lower DTCA with a group of drugs with higher DTCA within a therapeutic class over time. A simulation of the effect of DTCA on drug prices and on increased sales of advertised drugs will be performed. This will be carried out for each therapeutic class. Three alternative DTCA scenarios will be simulated.

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案中概述的经验工作旨在估算处方药对处方药价格的直接对消费者（DTC）广告的影响。 1997年，联邦贸易委员会放宽了管理DTC广告的规则，这导致了DTC广告的大幅增长。最近，DTC广告已成为一个有争议的国家问题。对DTC广告的任何评估都应考虑其收益和对消费者的成本的估计。对消费者的好处是健康信息。消费者的成本是较高的药品价格。但是，没有关于增加DTC广告对处方药价格的影响的经验估计。该提案的主要目的是通过估计毒品价格上涨和支出的比例可以归因于广告的增加来告知DTC广告的成本。广告可以包括在处方药的需求中，因为它可以增加消费的边际用途。广告还可以通过转移需求或降低需求的价格弹性来提高价格。如果宣传可以区分产品并减少替代品可用的看法，那么需求的价格就会降低。根据Lerner规则，更无弹性的需求曲线将导致更高的价格Ceteris Paribus。数据集将在四个治疗类别中的所有可用药物中每月库：1）关节炎，2）高胆固醇，3）溃疡和4）失眠。选择了这些治疗类别，因为它们包括一种或多种具有相对较高水平的DTCA支出和其他DTCA或没有DTCA的药物。每个治疗类别将分别完成估计。将收集来自电视，广播和杂志的两个价格变量和广告数据。促销支出与销售之间的内生性是一个问题。估计一致效果的主要方法将利用FDA政策变化导致的DTCA的外源转移。这种自然的实验类似于对其他各种对照组进行的前比较条件，每个班级中的药物跨越。由于可以在两个方案中观察到该公司，其中一个是DTCA受到限制的，这是一个不限制的，因此可以将一组DTCA的药物与一组具有较高DTCA的药物进行外源比较，而DTCA随着时间的流逝而在治疗类别中具有较高的DTCA。将对DTCA对药品价格的影响以及对广告药物的销售增加进行模拟。这将针对每个治疗类别进行。将模拟三种替代DTCA方案。