Information is fundamental to pharmaceuticals. Prescription products are inexorably linked to envelopes of information describing the conditions they alleviate, instructing on how and when they should be administered, and warning of precautions to be taken in their use. Because this information is so crucial, the scientific validity of the product messages, who receives them, and how they are delivered take on heightened significance regarding the public good are ultimately resolved by the interaction of medicine, industry, government, academia, the press, and the public. In the past 100 years, the role and character of medical advertising in the United States has been the subject of an ongoing debate among these parties. The history of medical advertising agencies—the subset of general advertising that for more than 75 years has specialized in promotional programs to professional audiences on prescription drugs—traces the movement of attitudes about communications on healthcare products.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDMwNDAx