"Direct-to-consumer advertising [3] - on which pharmaceutical companies spend roughly $3 billion a year - can trump medical need in influencing how doctors prescribe drugs," concludes a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. For the study, actresses posed as patients with mild depression and either asked about a specific antidepressant, based on TV ads [4]; asked about medications in general; or just described their symptoms. Doctors "were five times more likely to write them prescriptions," if the patient asked for a specific drug. However, patients received the best care when they asked about medications in general. In response, the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America [5] stated that drug ads increase "patient awareness, allowing more people to get proper diagnoses and drugs."