Consumer Group: Ban Drug Ads

[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
In testimony prepared for a Food & Drug Administration hearing on direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug ads Wednesday, Consumer Alert Executive Director Gary Ruskin called for a ban on all such TV and radio ads. Ruskin said that DTC print advertising should continue only if it includes the "full FDA-approved label." He also said such ads should not make emotional appeals. Ruskin said it would be impossible for TV and radio ads to meet those criteria, and thus they should be prohibited entirely. Ruskin says that drug companies have inherent conflicts that prevent them from presenting unbiased information, primarily that they are out to make a buck, which means to sell more medicine, which means their financial interest is in direct conflict with the public interest in unbiased information. The same holds, he says, for ad agencies, which he called "institutionally incapable of fairly presenting the risks and benefits of their clients’ drugs. Responding to Ruskin's testimony, the Association of National Advertisers' Dan Jaffe Wednesday called Commercial Alert's proposal "radical, misguided and unconstitutional."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6280523?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
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