Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1694

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

Saul S.
Senate Leader Calls for Limits on Drug Ads
New York Times 2005 Jul 21

Keywords:
advertising delay Bristol-Myers Squibb self-imposed

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s comments:An emerging concept in drug advertising is the notion of delaying advertising of a new drug to the public and/or medical profession for 1-2 years in order to allow time for the medical profession to come to grips wth the pros and cons of the new drug before the DTCA circus begins. Time will tell whether this idea ( which wil be counter-intuitive to advertising executives) takes off.

Full text:

July 2, 2005
Senate Leader Calls for Limits on Drug Ads
By STEPHANIE SAUL
The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, called yesterday on the pharmaceutical industry to limit drug advertising directed at consumers,
increasing the pressure on companies to curb such marketing.
Senator Frist, a Tennessee Republican, embraced an increasingly popular idea, a delay in advertising after a drug is introduced. He called
for a two-year restriction.
Proponents of a delay say it will give doctors time to understand how drugs work before patients begin asking for them, sometimes based on
inflated claims.
“This advertising can lead to inappropriate prescribing and fuel prescription drug spending,” Senator Frist said. “It can also oversell benefits
and minimize risks.”
He also said he would ask the Government Accountability Office to examine whether the Food and Drug Administration should review drug
advertising before its publication or broadcast.
The senator’s remarks, delivered yesterday on the Senate floor and posted on his Web site, add a politically powerful voice to the growing
support for some limits on the quality and quantity of drug ads aimed at consumers.
Such advertising has grown to a $3.8 billion industry since 1997, when the F.D.A. lifted limits on it.
Consumer drug advertising has prompted a reaction in recent months. Some critics say it contributed to an excessive, unnecessary use of
cox-2 painkillers, which were later shown to cause serious cardiovascular problems in some patients. Others criticized the drug industry for
prime-time erectile dysfunction drug ads that are laden with sexual innuendo.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade association, is formulating guidelines for advertising and is likely to
adopt them this month. It is unlikely that the guidelines will require a moratorium on advertising new drugs, said Ken Johnson, a spokesman
for the association.
“We believe as an industry that there should be an appropriate way to educate doctors and health care providers before advertising begins,”
Mr. Johnson said. “But we also believe strongly that patients have a right to know about new drugs that could save and improve the quality
of their lives.”
Last month, Bristol-Myers Squibb became the first company to embrace a self-imposed lag time – 12 months – between the introduction of
a drug and consumer advertising. Also last month, the American Medical Association decided to conduct a study of consumer drug
advertising after several medical groups proposed that the association recommend limits on ads.
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