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> It is where I live, so weird visiting the US and seeing "ask your doctor for" adverts.

Those ads are a small portion of pharma marketing budgets for prescription products. The vast majority goes to direct-to-doctor marketing.

That's 10 times more unnerving though. Especially given the very recent opioid prescription crisis.

Absolutely. I feel it is important to point out, though, given the number of people here who think these budgets are driven by American DTC ads.

You can read my other comment [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22127805] about my experience at a pharma-hosted dinner for my wife's former internship mentor (a doctor).

Given that experience, I'd not be surprised if pharma spend a ton of money on direct-to-doctor marketing.