From: Gary Westoby [gwestoby@charter.net]
Sent: Sunday, September 15, 2002 1:25 PM
To: fdadockets@oc.fda.gov
Subject: Rising cost of Prescription Medication

My name is Gary Westoby 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 am on maintenance medication and have been saddled with increasing co-pays and rising cost of prescription medication.  I have been forced to pay out of my pocket for rising costs of medications due to a shotgun approach to advertising.  Everywhere you look, the pharmaceutical companies are advertising their products that cannot even be purchased except through a doctor.  I rely on my medication advice from my doctor since he is trained in the proper interactions of the medication I am on.  I do not rely on commercials that misinform the consumers about the benefits of certain medications.

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 -

  a.. Allegra's gone up 11% 
  b.. OxyContin up 15% 
  c.. 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.

Respectfully,
Gary Westoby, President, SEIU/OYA
87 SW Main Court
Warrenton, OR 97146