Prescription Project criticizes new PhRMA DTCA guidelines

12/10/2008

PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's main trade organization, has announced a set of proposed voluntary guidelines that would change direct-to-consumer ads (DTC), but they don't address the serious risk issues inherent in DTC and are an attempt to stave off more serious consumer protection measures in the new Congress and FDA administration, the Prescription Project said today.

“Pharmaceuticals (and medical devices) bring complex risks and benefits," the Project Policy Director Allan Coukell said.   "Yet many in the medical community believe that DTC provides very little useful information and does more harm than good. Perhaps the most important thing DTCA ads fail to do is tell consumers how well the advertised drug will work. The new PhRMA guidelines don’t address this.

“We shouldn’t sell drugs the way we sell soap," he said. "A responsible industry would pull its ads and let good science drive the demand for truly innovative and beneficial therapies.”

For more, read the statement on the proposed guidelines.