Healthy Skepticism Library item: 4422

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Sencan N, Ãœstell I.
Information in drug advertisements
199213

Abstract:

Physicians prescribe medications partly on the basis of information made available to them by the pharmaceutical companies in advertisements placed in medical journals. For this reason, the advertising needs to be regulated. In December 1990, the Ministry of Health General Directorate of Pharmaceuticals put a new regulation into force to control the promotion of medicines. In our study the Journal of Turkish Clinics has been taken as a sample and the differences in drug information between 1990 and 1991, that is, before and after the regulation was enacted, are compared. For the availability of information the differences in the years 1990 and 1991 were significant. Whileinformation on adverse effects was present 41% of the time in 1990, in 1991 it was found in 60% of the advertisements. Information on contraindications and warnings/precautions was present 37% and 57%, respectively in 1990 and 26% and 51%, respectively in 1991. The only significant change was the availability of price information, in 1990 it was present in 0.9% of advertisements and in 1991 it was found in 46%.

Keywords:
*analytic survey/Turkey/developing countries/journal advertisements/quality of information/regulation of promotion/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: JOURNAL ADVERTISEMENTS/PROMOTION AND HEALTH NEEDS: PROMOTION IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: COMPLIANCE, SANCTIONS, STANDARDS/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: DIRECT GOVERNMENT REGULATION