From: davidrogers27@juno.com
Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 12:24 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov

My name is Dave Rogers and I am writing to offer my
> comments to the US Food and Drug Administration with
> regard to the FDA's authority over "commercial
> speech"
> especially with regard to pharmaceutical companies'
> advertisement of prescription drugs.
> 
> I do not believe the pharmaceutical industry needs
> any
> weakening of advertising laws, as they already found
> ways to spend over $2.5 billion in
> direct-to-consumer
> marketing in 2000, in addition to $4 billion they
> spent on marketing to doctors (not including an
> additional $8 billion in prescription freebies). As
> a
> result of these heavy ad campaigns, the
> pharmaceutical
> industry was the best performing sector of the US
> economy the last several years, according to Fortune
> Magazine, including a lead in every measurable
> growth
> area in 2001. Their profits were driven largely by
> enormous returns on aggressively marketed
> pharmaceuticals - with 34 of these high profile
> drugs
> making up more than 50% of the industry's
> skyrocketing
> profits. In addition to selling to more and more
> consumers, drug companies are jacking up their
> prices
> at well over the rate of inflation – Allegra’s gone
> up
> 11%, OxyContin up 15%, and Accutane up nearly 23%.
> 
> The pharmaceutical industry is preying on its most
> vulnerable citizens: the sick, infirm, and aging, in
> its quest for profits. The Food and Drug
> Administration should maintain and improve its role
> as
> the watchdog for what Americans consume in the name
> of
> health, rather than assist in drug company
> profiteering. The FDA should not cave into the
> pharmaceutical industry as was done in 1997, when
> relaxed rules on drug advertising initiated this
> steady rise in drug costs. Instead, the FDA should
> concentrate on looking out for the needs of its
> citizens and assisting federal officials in finding
> ways to keep costs down, not helping them rise
> further
> out of control.
Please consider this an official public comment.

Sincerely, 
David Rogers
4831 NE 31st Ave
Portland, 
OR 97211