Merck's Ad Blitz Draws Fire

"The big drug companies are spending more on marketing than they are on research," Weinstein said simply. "They have killed the goose that laid the golden egg. ... Now, they're based on sleazy ads on TV."

But outrage is rising. Indeed, DTC critics -- feeling vindicated by the Vioxx recall -- are now crying out from as far away as New Zealand.

"The chorus of opposition to DTC drug advertising that warned it would lead to heavy promotion of unsafe and unnecessary pharmaceuticals has been proven correct," says Sue Kedgley, a spokeswoman for the powerful Green Party in New Zealand. "If DTC advertising had been banned three years ago, then thousands of New Zealanders would not now be facing increased risks of cardiac problems -- because most of them would not have been prescribed Vioxx."

Death Penalty

Kedgley went on to blame the New Zealand government for failing to heed clear warnings about Vioxx advertisements.

She noted that the FDA had reprimanded Merck in 2001 for using Vioxx ads that were "false, lacking in fair balance or otherwise misleading." She found it "shocking" that her government had allowed Vioxx ads to keep running anyway.

Back in the U.S., Public Citizen did its part to counter such advertising. It placed Vioxx on its "worst pills" list after learning about the big study that exposed cardiac risks in 2001. It then publicized an eight-page warning letter sent from the FDA to Merck about its Vioxx advertising that same year.

But it also asked the FDA -- and ultimately Congress -- to do more.

"The FDA already has authority to bring criminal charges against companies such as Merck that repeatedly flout existing laws and regulations -- and should start using it," Public Citizen urged in November 2001. But "it would be nice if Congress would also rise to the obvious occasion and give the agency pocketbook authority as well."

Relman has pushed for an even more potent cure.

"We need more -- not less -- regulation of consumer ads. ... [And] if the law allows," he declares, "I would favor a total ban on DTC ads."