Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs: consumers' attitudes and preferences concerning its regulation in South Korea

Public preferences for corporate social responsibility activities in the pharmaceutical industry: Empirical evidence from Korea

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities are common in the pharmaceutical industry, there is little empirical evidence on consumer responses to CSR practices. We investigated public awareness, preferences, and expectations regarding social contribution of the pharmaceutical industry's CSR activities, and identified the factors associated with such activities. We conducted an online survey with 1,298 respondents comprising two groups: healthy individuals (546) and patients (752). Most respondents (78%) expressed interest in CSR activities undertaken by pharmaceutical companies. However, they reported a lack of awareness and experience thereof; only 26.9% were aware of and 7.9% had experience with such activities. Among our six CSR activity categories, both survey groups showed the highest preference for the "promoting public health" (healthy group: 6.34/10; patient group: 6.37/10) and "emergency disaster relief support" (6.31 and 6.35) categories. Among sub-categories, activities related to "development of innovative drugs in untreated areas" (6.63 and 6.82) and "support for research on new drug development" (6.59 and 6.84) received the highest scores. The mean expectation score of social contribution of all CSR activities was slightly higher than the mean preference score (6.37 and 6.06, respectively). The patient group exhibited a larger difference between the highest and lowest expectation scores than the healthy group (1.11 and 0.64, respectively). The results of the regression analysis revealed that being a patient, being male, and having positive attitudes toward CSR and its expected effects significantly and positively affected public preferences regarding CSR activities. We can conclude that CSR activities with high public preference might be an effective strategy to improve public awareness of the pharmaceutical industry's CSR activities. Furthermore, the highest preference for CSR activities relates to new drug development, indicating that our society believes the pharmaceutical industry's key CSR activity should be to pursue its intrinsic mission: to fulfill unmet medical needs by developing new drugs.

A survey of perceptions and attitudes about direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs among college students in South Korea

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs can be both beneficial and harmful to healthcare consumers. Therefore, DTCA for prescription drugs is a topic that should be considered crucially, at this point, when the interests of patients as well as pharmaceutical companies in DTCA of prescription drugs are growing in South Korea. The goals of this study were to investigate Korean college students’ perceptions and attitudes about DTCA of prescription drugs through a survey as well as to analyze data according to their college majors in order to identify differences in their perceptions and attitudes about prescription drug DTCAs as future health care professionals and consumers, respectively. A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was conducted between September and November 2015. Participants were recruited from Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Chosun University Institutional Review Board. Of 1,040 questionnaires initially distributed, 774 were collected, and 742 were included in the analysis. The results of this study indicated that most students who had participated in the survey did not have sufficient knowledge of DTCA for prescription drugs. Approximately, 17% reported being cognizant of DTCA for prescription drugs. More healthcare students (24.6%) knew this term than non-healthcare students did (6.3%). In this study, most of the students were likely to feel that healthcare professionals (e.g., doctors and pharmacists) had the responsibility of delivering information about prescription drugs to patients, and that all prescription drugs DTCA, if it were permitted, had to be pre-approved by the Korean government. The results of this study indicated that DTCA for prescription drugs had to be permitted under the condition of pre-approval of the DTCA contents by the Korean government, and prescription drugs should not be advertised through the Internet. It is recommended that the Korean government cautiously examine whether DTCA of prescription drugs should be permitted, after considering the current marketing strategies of pharmaceutical companies on the Internet and the effects of online electronic-DTCA on Korean consumers.

General public knowledge, perceptions and practice towards pharmaceutical drug advertisements in the Western region of KSA

This study aims to examine general public knowledge and behavior toward pharmaceutical advertisements in the Western part of KSA. A cross sectional convenience sampling technique was used in this study. A total of 1445 valid questionnaires were received and analyzed using SPSS version 16 at alpha value of 0.05. Majority of respondents were aware of different types of drugs to be advertised and drug advertisements should seek approval from the health authorities. Television and Internet showed the highest effect on consumers. Almost half of the participants preferred an advertised drug over non-advertised one. Most of the respondents indicated that the quality of frequently advertised drugs is not better than those prescribed by the doctors. Majority of participants had positive beliefs toward advertised drugs concerning their role in education and spreading of awareness among the public. Pharmaceutical advertisements harm the doctor-patient relationship as evidenced by one-third of the investigated sample. Moreover, majority of the participants mentioned that they would consult another doctor or even change the current doctor if he/she refused to prescribe an advertised medication. Results of this study could be used to develop awareness programs for the general public and try to enforce the regulations and policies to protect the general public and patients from the business oriented pharmaceutical companies and drug suppliers.