Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5813

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

Fyfe M.
Impotence drug push falls flat
The Age (Melbourne) 2006 Aug 8
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/impotence-drug-push-falls-flat/2006/08/07/1154802820482.html

Full text:

Impotence drug push falls flat

August 8, 2006

IMPOTENCE pill manufacturer Bayer Healthcare has been reprimanded for a money-back guarantee program offered for its drug Levitra.

The program, which returned money to men if the erectile dysfunction drug failed, will be ditched after a committee found it breached the drug industry’s code of conduct. Money-back guarantees were inappropriate for prescription medicines, said the committee, which is set up by industry body Medicines Australia but is designed to be independent.

But Bayer Healthcare, a repeat offender under the Medicines Australia ethics code, escaped a fine (which can be as high as $200,000). Instead, the committee ordered the company to stop the guarantee, issue a letter to GPs and publish a corrective advertisement in journals where the promotion was offered. The Australian Consumers Association said Bayer should have been fined and the committee was too slow to act.

“This proves the code of conduct is ineffective in monitoring pharmaceutical advertising,” said Viola Korczak, the association’s health spokeswoman.

The money-back deal, which started this year, was set to run until next month. A spokesman for Medicines Australia said the committee’s decision was a sign the code worked.

MELISSA FYFE