Life Sciences

Pharmaceutical companies put temporary hold on ads

Pharma Compliance Alert, June 18, 2008

Merck, Johnson & Johnson (J&J), and Pfizer will stop marketing new drugs to consumers for six months and will limit how they use physicians in their commercials, according to an article in Advertising Age.
 
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) sent letters to the companies requesting they:
  • Stop marketing new drugs directly to consumers for two years
  • Follow the American Medical Association’s (AMA) guidelines regarding the use of actors and physicians in commercials
  • Add “black box” warnings if the FDA requests them
Instead, the three companies agreed to stop marketing new drugs directly to consumers for six months and will begin following the AMA’s guidelines on actors and physicians in commercials.
 
J&J went one step further in its response, saying it will not use actors to portray physicians in its commercials.
 
Congress has taken a closer look at whether direct-to-consumer advertising is truthful and not misleading. Earlier this year, Pfizer agreed to stop airing ads for Lipitor featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik because the way Jarvik was depicted “led to mis-impressions and distractions.”  In addition, Merck and Schering-Plough’s ads for Vytorin have come under fire after the companies released the results of the Enhance trial, which showed Vytorin, a combination cholesterol drug, was not better than Zocor alone.

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