Once again, the American Medical Association will consider backing a government moratorium on pharmaceutical advertising to consumers.
The largest U.S. doctor group will ask its members at its annual meeting later this month to put its considerable lobbying clout behind federal regulations that would greatly limit television commercials targeted at consumers once drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Last year the AMA stopped short of backing a moratorium at its annual policymaking House of Delegates meeting in favor of more study. The study, now complete, advises AMA delegates to support a “time interval” that would put an unspecified amount of time between a drug’s approval and when a company could begin advertising to consumers, specifically on television.
Proposed regulations will be debated June 10-14 at the AMA annual meeting at the Chicago Hilton & Towers. The 17-page report is one of scores of resolutions, reports and policy statements the group’s 544-member policymaking House of Delegates will consider.
The report on direct-to-consumer advertising is one that AMA delegates have been looking into of late. Drug ad spending has quadrupled to more than $4 billion since 1998, the first full year after the FDA eased drug ad restrictions.
Doctors say the ads get in the way of the doctor-patient relationship while also contributing to rising health-care costs because patients usually ask for the latest, most expensive, brand-name drug.
Doctors say they are frustrated when patients visit their offices and ask about drugs the doctors either know nothing about or have not had time to evaluate through medical journals or scientific studies.
“[Direct-to-consumer] advertisements for newly approved” prescription drugs should “not be run until physicians have been appropriately educated about the drug,” the AMA resolution that will be considered says. “The length of the moratorium may vary from drug to drug depending on various factors, such as the innovative nature of the drug, the severity of the disease that the drug is intended to treat, the availability of alternative therapies and the intensity and timeliness of the education about the drug for physicians who are most likely to prescribe it.”
On the other hand, the drug industry lobby, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said it is opposed to any government moratorium on drug ads.
“We think companies are doing a much better job than in the past,” said PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson.
Last year, for example, PhRMA approved voluntary guidelines for its member firms that included submitting drug ads to the FDA in advance for screening. The association also said it would put more information about potential safety risks in its commercials and make sure ads are age-appropriate.
The industry’s moves last year were deemed by critics to be a way to regulate itself before the government takes action.
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