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: 7194658
• 负责人: Henry Saffer
• 金额: $ 14.62万
• 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 2008-09-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7194658
• 关键词: advertising; antihypercholesterolemic agent; antiulcer drug; arthritis therapy; behavioral /social science research tag; drug /agent; health care cost /financing; human data; journals; mass information media; mathematical model; radio; sedative /hypnotic; sleep disorders; television

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）：本提案中概述的实证工作旨在估计处方药直接面向消费者 (DTC) 广告对处方药价格的影响。 1997年，联邦贸易委员会放宽了DTC广告的管理规定，导致DTC广告大幅增加。最近，DTC 广告已成为一个有争议的全国性问题。对 DTC 广告的任何评估都应考虑其对消费者的收益和成本的估计。对消费者的好处是健康信息。消费者的成本是更高的药品价格。然而，目前还没有关于 DTC 广告增加对处方药价格影响的实证估计。该提案的主要目的是通过估计药品价格和支出增长的哪一部分可归因于广告的增加，从而了解 DTC 广告的成本。广告可以包含在处方药的需求中，因为它可以增加消费的边际效用。广告还可以通过改变需求或降低需求的价格弹性来提高价格。如果广告使产品与众不同并降低了替代品存在的感觉，那么需求对价格的反应就会减弱。根据勒纳规则，在其他条件不变的情况下，需求曲线越缺乏弹性将导致价格更高。该数据集每月汇集四种治疗类别的所有可用药物：1）关节炎，2）高胆固醇，3）溃疡和4）失眠。选择这些治疗类别是因为它们包括一种或多种 DTCA 支出水平相对较高的药物以及其他很少或没有 DTCA 的药物。评估将针对每个治疗类别单独进行。将收集两个价格变量以及来自电视、广播和杂志的广告数据。促销支出和销售之间的内生性是一个令人担忧的问题。估计一致效应的主要方法将利用 FDA 政策变化导致的 DTCA 外生变化。这种自然实验类似于随着时间的推移以及每类药物对各种其他对照的前后比较条件作用。由于可以在两种制度下观察该公司，一种是 DTCA 受到限制的，另一种是不受限制的，这使得可以随着时间的推移，对同一治疗类别中 DTCA 较低的一组药物与 DTCA 较高的一组药物进行外源比较。将模拟 DTCA 对药品价格和广告药品销量增加的影响。这将对每个治疗类别进行。将模拟三种替代 DTCA 场景。