Happiness reigns in the drug marketplace
Kuller, K.
Gmhc Treatment Issues the Gay Men's Health Crisis Newsletter of Experimental Aids Therapies 11(4-5): 6-8
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 1077-1824 PMID: 11364376 Document Number: 478458
Drug companies have changed their tactics of marketing anti-HIV agents; they are advertising in magazines designed for the lay public, such as GQ, Esquire, and Details. Such campaigns give the impression of AIDS as a manageable disease with treatments that can be lived with. This information is very useful, but some may be hard for many people to evaluate. Increased awareness of the products is good, however, excessive brand name recognition may be a disadvantage--the choice of drugs should be made by active dialogue between the physician and the patient. On a slightly different note, The Health Connection has been warned against overplaying data on the French company Arkopharma's product SPV-30, an extract of the European boxwood tree. When the labeling for SPV-30 made claims that it changes CD4 and viral load values, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that the activity changed SPV-30's status from a dietary supplement to a drug. The results from a French trial of SPV-30 are expected this summer.