You can't turn on the TV anymore without seeing commercials telling you to ask your doctor about drugs that will make you pee less, shrink your prostate, lower your cholesterol, cheer you out of your depression and give you a raging erection.  We see commercials for pills that will cut acid reflux, keep you from getting pregnant, treat that under-the-toenail fungus, help you sleep and clear out your snotty nose.

These commercials are... to a one of them... unnecessary.

You think your doctor doesn't KNOW enough to prescribe Ambien if you have insomnia, Boniva if you have osteoporosis, Nasonex if you're stuffed up with allergies and Yaz if you're premenstrual?  Do you really think your doctor NEEDS you to REMIND him or her that Viagra will treat your erectile dysfunction, or Omnaris will clear your sinuses, or Flowmax will shrink your prostate?  And how many times have you seen one of these TV commercials and said to yourself, "Dang!  Maybe I should get me some RESTASIS for these dry eyes!"

And how much money do the big pharmaceutical companies spend to create the computer animated bee with Antonio Banderas's voice to remind you how Nasonex will clear your sniffer, or the computer generated soldiers who jam that giant Omnaris nozzle into the even larger woman's nose?  How much do they pay to create the twin bathub scenes for the Cialis commercials?  Or to record an Elvis impersonator singing "Viva Viagra!" or to animate the little water balloons or plumbing-pipe people you see in the Enablex commercials?

I'll tell you how much they spend.  According to a 2008 study... TWICE AS MUCH AS THEY SPEND ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT!!!

The researchers' estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.

Maybe part of any future health care legislation might include a ban on advertising of prescription drugs.  Your doctors already KNOW about these drugs, you can't walk into a drug store and buy them, so the only reason I can imagine for SPENDING that kind of money is to get patients to hector their doctors for a specific drug.  And doctors -- if they're competent -- will already KNOW what kind of drug to prescribe to you, based on your history and other drugs you have taken in the past.

What a big chunk of savings THAT would be to the overall cost of health care if Big Pharma didn't need to tack on the price for animating a cartoon bee to sell its nasal spray.