corner
Healthy Skepticism
Join us to help reduce harm from misleading health information.
Increase font size   Decrease font size   Print-friendly view   Print
Register Log in

Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2951

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

Cocking C.
The abuse of prescription drugs
Weekend Magazine 1977 Jun 18; 16-19


Abstract:

About $60 million ($3000 per doctor per year) is spent on promoting prescription drugs annually. Promotion techniques include direct mail (about 2500 per pieces per doctor annually), sponsored seminars, journal advertisements and visits by sales representatives. Although physicians claim that they are not influenced by promotion, several North American studies show that it is not uncommon for doctors’ prescribing habits to change following visits from detailers. According to Guy Beauchemin, executive vice-president of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada “If advertising doesn’t influence doctors then a hell of a lot of people are wasting a lot of money.” One drug information study showed that 58% of doctors learned about a new medication from drug company sources versus 24% from medical journals and 3% through educational meetings. The Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties which is sent free to all doctors in Canada lists many probably useless,obsolete and irrational mixtures and fails to provide information on the comparative usefulness and effectiveness of the drugs listed. The Health Protection Branch has the authority to stop drug companies from making false and misleading claims about their products but the HPB only makes informal spot checks. According to Dr. Albert Liston, director general of the HPB’s Drug Directorate “it’s not our policy to treat advertising as the definitive source of information with respect to drugs.” Last year, the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board was established to preclear all drug advertising but this has not prevented questionable promotional practices.

Keywords:
*feature story/Canada/promotion costs and volume/quality of prescribing/industry perspective/attitude toward promotion/source of information/Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties/regulation of promotion/Health Protection Branch/Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (Can)/sales representatives/preclearance of advertisements/ATTITUDES REGARDING PROMOTION: INDUSTRY/ATTITUDES REGARDING PROMOTION: REGULATORS AND GOVERNMENT/EVALUATION OF PROMOTION: GENERAL QUALITY OF INFORMATION/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: PRESCRIBING, DRUG USE/PROMOTION AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION: DOCTORS/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: AUTONOMOUS BODIES/REGULATION, CODES, GUIDELINES: DIRECT GOVERNMENT REGULATION/VOLUME OF AND EXPENDITURE ON PROMOTION

 

  Healthy Skepticism on RSS   Healthy Skepticism on Facebook   Healthy Skepticism on Twitter

Please
Click to Register

(read more)

then
Click to Log in
for free access to more features of this website.

Forgot your username or password?

You are invited to
apply for membership
of Healthy Skepticism,
if you support our aims.

Pay a subscription

Support our work with a donation

Buy Healthy Skepticism T Shirts


If there is something you don't like, please tell us. If you like our work, please tell others.

Email a Friend