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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current trend of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) in the USA and its effect to patients, physicians and drug utilization. The DTCA of pharmaceutical firms is defined as an attempt of pharmaceutical companies to advertise product directly to patients.

The methodology used is literature review complemented with a semi-structured interview.

Pharmaceutical DTCA showed a reduction in total spending, whereas the online channel experienced growth. DTCA affected the physician–patient relationship and patient satisfaction. Patients who received medication associated with DTCA showed higher satisfaction. DTCA of second-line drugs resulted in an increase of first-line drug utilization. Benefits of pharmaceutical DTCA include enhancing appropriate drug utilization and increasing awareness. DTCA might cause harm by interfering with physician’s decisions regarding drug choice.

Limitations include limited available information of DTCA spending from pharmaceutical companies and lack of quantitative data on the effect of pharmaceutical DTCA. In addition, DTCA is sometimes affected by research bias.

Improvement in the physician–patient relationship and patient satisfaction, as well as in the quality of care provided may be demonstrated.

Pharmaceutical firms using DTCA marketing advertisement methodologies can increase awareness of underdiagnosed conditions and affect medication costs and the utilization of appropriate drug utilization.

Review highlights current relationships between DTCA, patients, physicians and drug utilization to explore the effects DTCA on consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the costs of medical detoxification among patients with alcohol and substance abuse disorders.

The study data was drawn from a medical detoxification program in a community hospital in Texas. Secondary data analysis of 1337 cases from three years was reviewed. Age, gender, race, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, sedatives, opioids, financial classification, cost, length of stay (LOS) and cost by LOS were analyzed using Kruskal‐Wallis test and Mann‐Whitney U‐test.

The sample comprised of 42.8 percent women and 57.2 percent males. The mean cost and cost by LOS was highest for cocaine ($2560.1 and $1,044, P<0.01), while opioid and cannabis ($815.5, p<0.01; $823.7, p<0.01) had significantly higher values than the rest. In each individual drug detoxification class, except for amphetamines, the mean and median LOS has been reported to be less among the uninsured category compared to privately insured subjects. In addition, the cost by LOS was also found to be higher in the uninsured group compared to those with private insurance. Subjects who were uninsured and abused alcohol had higher median costs of detoxification (P<0.01) by LOS.

Further in‐depth analysis for confounding and interactions between variables is warranted.

This research provides an estimation of LOS of a medical detoxification program by financial class in the USA and illustrates that early discharge of uninsured and Medicaid patients can be attributable to aggressive case management practices, interrupting the normal course of care.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development and progression of the International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing and include comments on its future direction.

The paper takes the approach of an essay format.

The journal has published key papers in pharmaceutical and healthcare research and continues to develop an interdisciplinary character with contributions from scholarly and practice‐oriented sources.

The paper provides a contemporary appraisal of the status and positioning of the journal.