Pharmaceutical companies will be named and shamed for misleading advertising

Feb 22 2005

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be naming and shaming companies which engage in misleading advertising of their pharmaceutical products, or which show poor practice in the way they set about their advertising and promotional campaigns.

This is the message from new, tougher guidance which is being launched at the Agency's first ever seminar on advertising, being held in London today. At the seminar, which is being attended by a wide range of industry representatives, the Agency will explain the new guidance and how it will be implemented.

Speaking about the launch of the new guidance, Professor Kent Woods , Chief Executive of the MHRA, said, "Most pharmaceutical advertising is carefully and responsibly put together, and the very best advertising helps health professionals and the public to make informed choices about healthcare. However, we have seen a number of examples of poor practice, where advertising is confusing or misleading. It is vital that we tackle this type of poor practice swiftly and effectively."

The main changes in the new guidance are:

• Tougher measures against poor practice. As well as any legal action which the Agency pursues over unlawful practice, it will also be publishing every review of an advert on its website, and "naming and shaming" those companies which engage in poor practice.
• Greater scrutiny. Companies which regularly breach the guidelines will be subject to review of their whole advertising portfolio to ensure that it meets the appropriate standards.
• Greater efficiency. The Agency has put in place more streamlined processes to ensure that advertising is reviewed as quickly as is consistent with a thorough and rigorous consideration.

Prof Woods continued, "The MHRA is committed to carrying out its functions in as open and transparent a way as possible. These new measures allow the public and health care professionals to see clearly how the MHRA is going about its work. Just as importantly, they protect the public's health by allowing people to see in a timely and clear way where they may have been misled by poor advertising."

"The key principle behind the guidelines is that they must protect the public, by preventing people from being misled by poor advertising. It is important that the guidelines evolve to reflect public perception; over the next year, we are planning to hold discussions with a number of patient representatives to assess whether the guidelines meet that need, or whether further changes are required. If necessary, we will further revise the guidance in the light of those discussions."

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/