Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14337

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

European Commission to review DTC advertising
PM Live 2008 Sep 23
http://www.pmlive.com/pharm_market/news.cfm?showArticle=1&ArticleID=7069

Full text:

Several organisations are criticising potential plans that could allow the pharmaceutical industry to market their products directly to patients, which will be reviewed in 2008.
The new proposal could see pharma marketers using television, radio, printed media and other channels to give the public information about prescription-only medicines. However, there is currently a ban on direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing in Europe but the European Commission (EC) will begin considering plans in October 2008 for relaxing the ban.

Consumer campaign group Which? and an alliance of nine other groups including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians sent a joint letter to the EC urging it to abandon its plans to allow DTC advertising. The organisations claim the proposed plans could drive up the NHS £11bn annual drugs bill.

“We need to draw a clear line between information and advertising, otherwise DTC information will be like letting advertising in through the back door,” said Pete Moorey, public affairs manager at Which?. “We don’t want to end up in the same boat as the US, where people demand specific branded drugs from their doctor when cheaper equally effective generic drugs are available. The huge and unnecessary increase in cost that this could bring would divert much needed funds away from other areas of the NHS.”

A spokesperson for the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) explained that EU directive on patient information has not yet been finalised and the report is still in its draft stages, making it difficult to speculate on possible outcomes.

“Type the name of a medicine into any internet search engine and countless hits will come up. But there is no way of telling if that information is accurate and the companies that make the medicines are not allowed to provide their own information to patients,” said the spokesperson. “We would like to see informed, educated patients who can choose to access accurate information whenever they wish. However, the ABPI has never called for product information to be advertised to patients through broadcast or print media.“