Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20186

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: Magazine

Limprecht E
TV program walks as pharma co fined
Australian Doctor 2005 Nov 243
http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/tv-program-walks-as-pharma-co-fined

Full text:

Current affairs television can effectively promote prescription drugs directly to consumers and the broadcasting authority is unable to stamp out the practice, Australia’s leading medical media watchdog claims.

The claim follows a complaint over the alleged promotion of the weight-loss drug Xenical to viewers of Today Tonight broadcast in November 2003 when the drug was prescription only.

Although the complaint was originally made by a health professional to the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the ABA decided Xenical and two other weight-loss drugs mentioned were not within its jurisdiction and passed the complaint to the drug industry’s self-regulator, Medicines Australia.

Medicines Australia’s code of conduct committee instead fined Roche, the makers of Xenical. The committee imposed a $20,000 fine because Roche had sent Today Tonight “selective and not balanced”
information that did not include “appropriate information about precautions, side effects and contraindications”. The company had also nominated Xenical patients to speak to Today Tonight’s online medical media watchdog Media Doctor, said current affairs shows had a responsibility to viewers to ensure they were not promoting prescription drugs through news stories.

“Journalists are aware that the pharmaceutical industry is not allowed to advertise directly to the public. Getting journalists to carry promotional materials as news is a way of circumventing the law,” Professor Henry said.

“Companies will always push the boundaries and journalists will always write about new drugs. You can’t stop that, but you need someone to keep the media in line.”

He said the Australian Press Council had a role investigating biased and poor journalism surrounding stories on pharmaceutical products.

Although Roche lost its case with Medicines Australia, it had argued that it had not had editorial rights over what information was broadcast and that it was being judged on a program that had been instigated and developed by the media.

Neither Today Tonight nor the Australian Broadcasting Authority, which has recently been renamed the Australian Communications and Media Authority, responded to Australian Doctor’s queries.