Opinion: 9 answers to burning questions about pharmaceutical ads

This article first appeared in the newsletter Your Local Epidemiologist.
Pharmaceutical ads in the United States are annoying. Absurd. And almost uniquely American.

In fact, only one other high-income country in the entire world — New Zealand — allows prescription drug companies to advertise directly to consumers. Everyone else has decided the downsides aren’t worth it. So why hasn’t the U.S. stopped them?