Ventola, (2011) defines the DTC as an advertising technique used by the pharmaceutical companies to promote their drugs directly to patients. (Parnes, Smith, Gilroy, et al
Many companies take the advantages of the DTC channel to sell their product directly to consumers without providing a proper education concerning the effect of the drug. (Shaw, 2008)
Consumers can also benefit from having access to multiple information sources about drugs and other treatment options rather than relying solely on health care providers." (Ventola,2011 p 672)
They are similar to the present treatments which mean that they are no better than the drugs that are already present in the market treating a similar condition. Even seventy-five percent of the drugs that are being approved by the FDA are me-too drugs so there is always a possibility that it can be more effective than the present drugs in the market but as long as they are effective as compared to a placebo, they would always get the approval of the FDA making it difficult for the drug developers to protect the actual drugs (Jones, 2004)
S. has the largest pharmaceuticals market in the world and so it provides a large amount of exclusivities related to drugs in the industry which are available to both the generic companies as well as the innovators (Mistry & Maheshwari, 2015)