HEALTH ACTION INTERNATIONAL - EUROPE
CONSUMER GROUPS TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION:
"SAY 'NO' TO CONSUMER DRUG ADVERTISING AND 'YES' TO QUALITY OBJECTIVE
DRUG INFORMATION"
4 February, 2002
Consumer health groups say recently published research adds further evidence
of the potential harm of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of prescription
medicines. Advertising prescription drugs directly to consumers is only
legal in the US and New Zealand, yet recent proposed changes to EU law
may make the practice legal in Europe. Health Action International (HAI)
and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) are calling on the EU to
reject any legislation that weakens the ban on DTCA.
The authors of a study published in the latest issue of the British Medical
Journal (http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/324/7332/0/d) found that doctors
often prescribed medicines requested by patients in spite of personal
reservations, leading to an increase in sales of advertised products at
the expense of prescribing appropriateness.
"Patients respond to ads by asking for a drug they may not need,
and the doctor very likely prescribes it although they wouldn't have chosen
it otherwise and it may not be in the best interests of that patient."
, said Ms. Barbara Mintzes, from the University of British Columbia in
Vancouver, Canada, who headed the study.
Consumer groups are saying that the proposed change in EU law regarding
Directive 2001/83/EC which regulates pharmaceutical advertising will likely
result in an American style spiral of drug costs and a greater level of
inappropriate drug use. The EC stated that this change is necessary to
allow the pharmaceutical industry to "provide information to the
public" for three disease areas for a trial period.
Consumer groups, patient groups, government regulators and others who
attended a meeting co-sponsored by HAI and EPHA on January 10th 2002,
raised an alarm that these changes would likely allow two forms of advertising
previously banned on public health grounds: advertising of prescription-only
drugs to the public for HIV/AIDS, diabetes and asthma, and advertising
of treatments for serious diseases listed in Article 88 (2) of the Directive.
Two weeks ago, the pharmaceutical industry magazine Scrip reported that
a translation error may be at the heart of the confusion and questioned
whether the proposal refers to 'public advertising or 'information to
the public'.
"Whether the Commission uses the word 'information' or 'advertising'
is beside the point," says Margaret Ewen, co-director of HAI Europe
in Amsterdam. "The real question is whether this legislative change
will allow US-style prescription drug advertising. We believe it will."
While the pharmaceutical industry consistently claims that drug advertising
leads to improved patient health Ms. Mintzes is not convinced.
"In nearly 20 years of US drug advertising to consumers, there's
no evidence that exposure to drug advertising improves health or prevents
hospitalizations or deaths. We know that advertising can lead to increases
in use of new drugs - and that this happened even for drugs that were
later withdrawn from the US market". In the last five years Rezulin
(troglitazone), Propulsid (cisapride) and Baycol (cerivastatin) were pulled
from the market because of unacceptable risks, including patient deaths.
Numerous public interest groups in Europe and other regions have signed
the HAI Europe/ EPHA joint statement today calling on the EU to take a
stronger role in providing consumers with quality prescription drug information
and vigorously enforce the present legislation with better monitoring
of drug promotion to health professionals.
The concerns of consumer groups were echoed by Mr. Léon Wever,
Director of Pharmaceutical Affairs with the Dutch Health Ministry who
questioned the proposed change: "If it is about information, not
advertising, then there is no need to change the law." He noted that
the Dutch government would vote against this proposed change.
HAI Europe's Margaret Ewen said "there is a vital need for consumers
to access quality, comparative drug information. This information must
be unbiased and not provided by drug companies in order to promote a product."
HAI Europe, a network consumer, health, and development groups working
towards the rational use of drugs, calls on the European Commission to
leave the current advertising regulations intact, and ensure that patients
get access to quality, objective and understandable drug information.
For more information please contact Margaret Ewen, Health Action International
Europe; phone 0031 20 683 3684, email info@haiweb.org
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