Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cancer. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Breast Cancer and Advertising

A Wall Street Journal story today looked at controversy surrounding the marketing of a new test for a rare genetic factor in breast and ovarian cancer. (The New York Times had a similar piece.) Some people are concerned ads promoting the test will prompt too many women to spend money and worry needlessly because the problem is rare and the test imperfect.
What is the company's responsibility here? They're trying to turn a profit. Should they heavily market the product, regardless of the concerns? Who are all the stakeholders (people with a specific interest)? Who is responsible for relaying information about the rareness of the gene or potential problems with the test? People who are selling it? Patients who use it? The government? The media?