Developments
Media attention on the issue
Position papers by campaign partners

17 February 2003
Report to the New Zealand Minister of Health supporting the case for a
ban on the advertising of prescription medicines to consumers
Click here to read the report (pdf format) and the media release (Word format).

24 October 2002
European Parliament soundly rejects move towards direct-to-consumer advertising. HAI Europe applauds Parliament's decision to protect public health, not industry's interests. Click here to read the press release.
PGEU issues press release: Pharmaceutical Legislation: European Parliament recognises the special nature of medicines.
EU Commission's response to the Parliament's vote.

3 October 2002
HAI Europe hails EU Committee's rejection of proposal to relax ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. Click here to read the press release. Click here to read the press release (in French) of Didier Claude ROD, Member of European Parliament.

22 July 2002
Members of the International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB) send an open letter to members of the European Parliament, pointing out the dangers implied in relaxing the ban on DTCA. Click here to read the letter. Click here to read the reply of the German Ministry of Health (in German). Click here for a short summary of the reply (in English).

19 June 2002
HAI Europe opposes Dutch health inspectorate's plan to stop monitoring pharmaceutical advertising and marketing practices. To read the Press Release, click here: in English, in Dutch. For more background, click here to read a translation of an article published in Trouw.

18 June 2002
HAI Europe endorses La Revue Prescrire's petition on pharmaceutical issues currently debated in the EU.
Click here to view the petitions

23 May 2002
EU Parliament's Committee on industry (MEP Mel Read) releases report on pharmaceutical review legislation criticising Commission's plan to relax advertising rules. Click here to read the full report.

22 May 2002
European Parliament releases English-language version of Rapporteur's draft report on the proposal related to medicinal products for human use.

May 2002
A group of clinical pharmacologists, physicians, pharmaceutical industry representatives, medical and general journalists, communications professionals, and consumer advocates met in Erice, Italy, on May 9-13, 2002 to discuss drug advertising to consumers.
Click here to read The Erice Statement on drug advertising to consumers.

9 April 2002
HAI Europe releases report of the HAI Europe/EPHA symposium on direct-to-consumer promotion in the EU.
The full proceedings and a press release can be downloaded.

25 February 2002
Maria Negri sends letter to the European Parliament, raising a number of concerns on drug regulation and public interest. Click here to read the letter.

4 February 2002
Proposed relaxation of the EU ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription
medicines. Press release by HAI Europe and joint statement (English version) (French version) by HAI Europe and the European Public Health Alliance.

30 January 2002
Social Audit writes to Philippe Brunet, head of the pharmaceuticals and cosmetics unit at the European Commission's DG Enterprise asking for clarification on the intended revisions to Article 88.
Brunet's response.

22 January 2002
Comments from 35 bodies to the G10 group.
Please click here to read.

11 January 2002
Consumer, patient groups and health professionals reject European Commission's proposal on DTCA at HAI/EPHA symposium.
Click here to read the press release.

10 January 2002
HAI Europe/EPHA Symposium "Providing Prescription Medicine Information to Consumers :
Is There a Role for Direct-to-Consumer Promotion?" Click here for more information.

HAI and Social Audit release briefing papers criticising direct to consumer advertising initiative:
Charles Medawar's briefing paper "Health, pharma and the EU: A briefing for members of the European Parliament on Direct-to-Consumer Drug Promotion".
To read the full text of Barbara Mintzes' s paper "Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising: The European Commission's Proposals for Legislative Change", click here for English version, French version, German version.

23 October 2002
Financial Times publishes: Europe seeks to calm nerves over US-style drug advertising, by Geoff Dyer.
The Guardian publishes: Europe rejects drug advertising, by Claire Cozens.

5 September 2002
Dutch Inspectorate hardly monitors advertising of medicines, says Joop Bouma in an article published in the Dutch newspaper Trouw.
To read more articles in Trouw related to this (in Dutch) please click here.

17 August 2002
Group of Dutch GPs call for boycott of Novartis products due to company’s recent DTCA campaign.
BMJ publishes article, including HAI Europe's comments.

3 June 2002
Financial Times publishes: Public says ban on drug adverts should remain, by Nicholas Timmins, Public Policy Editor.

17 May 2002
The Lancet prints an editorial against the introduction of DTCA in Europe, saying "the potential disadvantages from DTCA, as judged by experiences in the USA and New Zealand, outweigh any claimed benefits."

13 April 2002
The British Medical Journal publishes editorial by Barbara Mintzes outlining negative consequences of DTCA as part of a whole theme issue focusing on medicalisation. Read the response posted on the site by the UK's Consumers Association.

12 April 2002
Drug ads can persuade people they are sick, researcher says. Visits to MD for help with baldness soared after year of TV ads for hair-loss pill, by André Picard, public health reporter for Globe and Mail. Click here to read the article.

2 April 2002
Canadian Medical Association Journal report on the HAI Europe-EPHA symposium on direct to consumer promotion

23 March 2002
Canada's health minister states she sees no reason to allow U.S.-style advertising in Canada. Click here to read more.

8 March 2002
Opinion piece against allowing direct-to-consumer advertising in Canada.

14 February 2002
Promotion of Prescription Drugs to Consumers, published as a special article in The New England Journal of Medicine. Click here to read.

2 February 2002
A Canadian/US study, published in the British Medical Journal, on the influence of direct to consumer pharmaceutical advertising and patients' requests on prescribing decisions by Barbara Mintzes, Joel Lexchin et al. Click here to read.

12 April 2002
Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust position paper on DTCA.

Joint position paper against DTCA by the Pharmaceutical Group of the EU (PGEU) and the Standing Committee of European Doctors (CP)