The Food and Drug Administration will begin educating doctors about the legal limits of pharmaceutical advertising. On Tuesday, the FDA launched its “Bad Ad Program,” designed to encourage healthcare professionals to identify and report false or misleading drug advertising.
Traditionally, the agency has policed drug advertising at large medical conventions, and via industry complaints and reviews of advertisements submitted by drug companies. But the FDA recognizes that it “has limited ability to monitor promotional activities that occur in private.” Spending on direct advertising to healthcare professionals, called “detailing,” outpaces direct-to-consumer drug advertising by nearly 3 to 1, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The FDA sent out a dozen warning letters to pharmaceutical companies about false or misleading advertising in April. Most alleged violations concerned overstating a drug’s effectiveness or superiority, or understating risks.
Read more about the FDA campaign here.
