US pharma DTC "recession" started in 2006

The US recession, to which the National Bureau of Economic Research has recently admitted, started in 2007. According to the definition used by the US authorities, figures for direct-to-consumer advertising by the pharmaceutical industry began to decline in the 2006-2007 period, suggesting that the recession in the drug sector began earlier.

DTC advertising by drugmakers reached a peak of $5.4 billion in 2006, falling back to $5.2 billion the following year. Estimates for 2008 are at $4.7 billion (about the same level as in 2005), while next year could be as low as $4.2 billion, John Mack, the editor of Pharma Marketing News, believes.

However, the figures make no allowance for drug industry-specific or technology issues that might affect DTC communication as a marketing strategy. In November 2006, the Democrats won congressional elections and indicated their intention to curb what they considered "excesses" by drugmakers (Marketletters passim). To a certain extent, a lower profile by the big pharmaceutical companies might be simply smart politics.