USA Today Examines FDA’s Regulation of Prescription Drug Advertisements
USA Today on Tuesday examined FDA efforts to enforce rules for pharmaceutical companies' advertisements. According to USA Today, FDA has "stepped up enforcement" this year, citing 13 advertisements for violating marketing rules by pitching drugs to people who do not need them, burying risk information, lying about competing products and misleading patients. However, the number of enforcement actions remains lower than previous years, despite the fact that the number of complaints about prescription drug marketing has stayed steady at about 200 annually. In 2000, FDA cited 79 advertisements for violating marketing rules. FDA officials say that the number of enforcement actions have declined since 2000 but that the agency is "packing more punch against the campaigns it cites by asking drug makers to correct false information," instead of just asking the companies to pull the misleading ads, USA Today reports. According to a USA Today review of FDA citations, the agency sought corrective action in half of its 36 drug-promotion enforcement cases in 2004 and 2005, compared with 7% in 200 cases between 2000 and 2003. Thomas Abrams -- director of FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications -- said, "We're carefully prioritizing our workload to get to the most serious violations first" (Schmit [1], USA Today, 5/31).
Related Articles
USA Today on Tuesday published several other articles related to FDA citations of pharmaceutical company advertisements. Summaries appear below.
- "Where Drug Advertisements Often Cross the Lines": The article examines the ways pharmaceutical companies violate marketing rules, including minimizing risks, overstating effectiveness, broadening a drug's use and making unsubstantiated claims (Schmit [2], USA Today, 5/31).
- "How Celebrex Ran Afoul of FDA Over the Years": The article examines actions taken by FDA related to Celebrex between 1997 and 2005 (Schmit [3], USA Today, 5/31).
- "Voluntary Guidelines vs. Legislation": The article examines whether changes to prescription drug marketing rules will be made with voluntary industry guidelines or federal legislation (Schmit [4], USA Today, 5/31).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
