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To the Editor: In their article about direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA), Dr Mello and colleagues¹ discussed whether drug companies should share product liability relating to advertising claims. They concluded that learned intermediaries (ie, physicians) will probably need to continue to assume some of these risks. However, DTCA has the power to change patients' perspectives and personal risk-benefit analyses, leading them to want therapies or take risks they might not otherwise accept. Even learned intermediaries can fail in the face of overwhelming advertising pressures. Exaggerations or misleading representations present a danger for patients² and I believe that they should lead to greater liability for the advertisers.

Contrast a physician describing a drug's ability to decrease the risk of cardiac events to a television advertisement for that same drug, which depicts a fit middle-aged man with young women following his every move. Although a physician would be likely to discuss the drug's risks . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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