Adherence of Drug Promotional Literatures Distributed by Pharmaceutical Companies to World Health Organization Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion

Prasad, Pravin; Bajracharya, Sangha Ratna; Deo, Satish Kumar; Lamichhane, Samir; Pradhan, Pranil Man Singh; Ghimire, Rakesh; Pokharel, Amrit

doi:10.33314/jnhrc.v17i3.1840

Cited by 4 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…This is not good as DAs should have authentic references which can help doctors verify the authenticity of the claims made, if they so desire. Fortythree percent of DAs were not supported by appropriate references in a study from Nepal, 12 whereas 50% of the claims made in DAs were not supported in a study done in Bangladesh. 28 DAs citing references of non-placebo controlled randomized control trials were maximum (n=6) followed by review articles (n=3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…This is similar to other studies done elsewhere. 12,18 Though these are prescription-only drugs, their irrational use is commonly seen around the globe. [18][19][20][21][22][23] Thirty-nine DAs were having pictorial presentations of body organs followed by 18 DAs with pictures of women and 17 DAs with pictures of healthy people.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This finding was consistent with the findings from previous studies done in Nepal and Brazil. 11,12,30 Another study also highlighted the fact that the information for adverse reactions and warnings about drug interactions were missing in all the drug advertisements analyzed. 11 Regarding the references, other studies have also found that only 60% of the DAs had citable/retrievable references.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…9 The DAs may not contain information about the adverse effects drug interactions and contraindications caused while using the medicine. [10][11][12] Ethical drug promotion and authenticity of the DAs are important to promote the rational use of medicines. It has been found that the information provided in the DAs may not follow the code of ethics and can promote irrational prescribing behaviors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies used WHO criteria for assessing the DAs. 4,11,12 WHO has developed eleven different criteria which a drug advertisement should contain and these are shown in Table 1. Some of the Health Action International (HAI) criteria were also used to analyze the DAs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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<p>Critical Evaluation of Drug Advertisements in a Medical College in Lalitpur, Nepal</p>

Jha

Sapkota²,

Shankar

2020

JMDH

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Purpose The information provided in drug advertisements (DAs) often do not follow the recommended criteria and may promote irrational prescribing behaviors. Recently Health Action International (HAI) formulated detailed criteria to evaluate DAs which further develop and expand on the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. This study was done to evaluate DAs using both criteria. Methods The study was carried out from October 2019 to January 2020 in the Department of Pharmacology of KIST Medical College, Lalitpur, Nepal. A structured proforma was used to collect data. Results Altogether 100 DAs were analyzed. Maximum (85%) were having pictorial presentations. Majority (89%) were found to have authentic information and 3% were found to have exaggerated information. All DAs mentioned generic name, brand name, active drug per dosage form and approved therapeutic uses. Only 4% of DAs mentioned about the adverse effects that can be caused by the use of these medicines. The DAs evaluated as per the HAI criteria for pictures and images showed that people portrayed did not seem to be Nepalese. Females and males were portrayed differently with females being laypersons and males being healthcare professionals. Nineteen DAs contained 33 references to scientific literature. Thirty references contained adequate citation information to be identified and were retrievable. Retrieved references were of high methodological quality and from peer-reviewed journals. There was only one graph in the DAs and it contained the number needed to treat (NNT) information. The graph was not having statistical calculations and was not obscured by other visual material. Conclusion Using both HAI and WHO criteria for assessing the DAs was the strength of this study. None of the DAs fulfilled all the criteria. Additionally, lack of any information on harm in the large majority of DAs, and very limited backing of claims with references was also seen.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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<p>Critical Evaluation of Drug Advertisements in a Medical College in Lalitpur, Nepal</p>

Jha

Sapkota²,

Shankar

2020

JMDH

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Insufficient compliance of the German Therapeutic Products Advertising Act in product catalogues of online pharmacies

Barlage,

Seifert

2024

Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol

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The importance of ordering drugs from online pharmacies in Germany is increasing constantly. At the same time, there are many online pharmacies that try to increase their own market share through advertising. In Germany, the advertising of drugs is regulated by the Therapeutic Products Advertising Act (Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG)) and must therefore also be complied with by online pharmacies in their product catalogues. One important purpose of the HWG is to protect consumers by ensuring that they are presented with all necessary medical-pharmacological information about the advertised product. This paper examines the implementation of as well as the compliance with Section 4 of the HWG in the product catalogues of two online pharmacies. For this purpose, the spring/summer catalogue of 2023 was considered in the allergy, cold and gastrointestinal tract categories, resulting in the inclusion of 143 drugs from online pharmacy 1 (OP1) and 102 drugs from online pharmacy 2 (OP2) for the analysis. The information on the drugs was taken from the respective catalogue and the pharmaceutical index ‘Gelbe Liste’, collected in tabular form and was encoded. Subsequently, the required mandatory information according to Section 4 was checked by comparing the collected information with the information from the package leaflet. The analysis revealed that both catalogues insufficiently complied with Section 4 of the HWG. OP1 complied with 75% of the mandatory information required under Section 4 of the HWG and OP2 with 64%. In the OP1 catalogue, there is no indication for 6% of the drugs and no specification for 29% of the traditionally registered drugs. In addition, the mandatory notice on risks and adverse effects in the OP1 catalogue is not presented in a consumer-friendly way. In the OP2 catalogue, further concerns about the compliance with the HWG were raised due to the missing indication for 17% of the drugs, no warning for 64% of the ethanol-containing drugs and no active ingredient for 31% of the monopreparations. The insufficient compliance with the HWG in the product catalogues of OP1 and OP2 means that consumer protection as a stated objective of the HWG cannot be guaranteed. Advertising for drugs should only be possible under the condition that the content of the advertisement complies with the HWG. Insufficient compliance, as in the product catalogue of OP1 and OP2, should be prohibited as it directly contradicts the law’s objective.

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Evaluation of Drug Advertisements Made by Pharmaceutical Companies as Per Who Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion in Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital

Paudel

Chaurasia²,

Bhurtyal³

et al. 2022

JCMC

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Background: Large number of new drugs are introduced into the market everyday. Drug advertisements are used as a major marketing tool by the pharmaceutical companies to promote their new drugs. WHO has recommended the drug promotional advertisement criteria to make promotional more ethical and rational. So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the drug advertisements made by pharmaceutical companies as per WHO ethical criteria. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study of drug advertisements was carried out in the Department of Pharmacology at CMC. The drug advertisements were evaluated based on 11 criteria laid down by the WHO. The data was entered in Microsoft Office Excel software 2008 and exported to IBM SPSS 20.0 version software for further analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Total 185 drug advertisements were evaluated. Among them, most of them 66.40% were promoting single drug formulation. Antimicrobials 21.6% were the most commonly promoted group. Only 12.4% followed all the criteria as led down by WHO. Most of the drug advertisements have the brand name written with approved generic name, dose, manufacture name and dosage form. It was found that the most neglected part of drug advertisements was information related to drug interactions (12.40%) and side effects (14.10%). Conclusions: Majority of drug advertisements fulfilled only half of the WHO ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion. This indicates that unethical drug promotional advertisement is wide spread which need concern of all health authority.

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Adherence of Drug Promotional Literatures Distributed by Pharmaceutical Companies to World Health Organization Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

<p>Critical Evaluation of Drug Advertisements in a Medical College in Lalitpur, Nepal</p>

<p>Critical Evaluation of Drug Advertisements in a Medical College in Lalitpur, Nepal</p>

Insufficient compliance of the German Therapeutic Products Advertising Act in product catalogues of online pharmacies

Evaluation of Drug Advertisements Made by Pharmaceutical Companies as Per Who Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion in Chitwan Medical College Teaching Hospital

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