Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20191

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: Journal Article

Glatter J
Promotion, Information and Advertising: Why Increasingly Blurred Boundaries do not Benefit the Public
Journal of Generic Medicines 2004 Jan 1; 1:(2):128-136
http://jgm.sagepub.com/content/1/2/128.abstract

Abstract:

Recent legislative proposals from the European Commission to relax the prohibition on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription medicines in the EU have generated increased debate internationally over the role of the pharmaceutical industry in relation to promotion, information and advertising and the impact of its activities on the public. It is argued that changing information technology and healthcare environments are leading people to take more direct control over their healthcare, although without the necessary health-literacy and critical appraisal skills to do so in a fully informed way. A comprehensive approach to patient information is proposed that would better equip people to take a more active and informed role in both self-care and shared decision making in relation to health, illness and drug and non-drug treatments.