E-drug: Advertising in national formularies (cont)
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Ken Harvey makes a good point, as usual, about keeping drug information
sources free of advertising. However, there are distinctions between
sources that need to be kept in mind. Some things like national
formularies or lists of drugs on benefits schemes are produced by
government bodies. Then there are drug bulletins which are usually
produced by independent groups although sometimes they get government
subsidies, either directly or indirectly. Next are prescribing
guidelines such as Therapeutic Guidelines (Australia), Drugs of Choice
(Canada), Australian Medicines Handbook. These are also produced by
independent groups. Finally, there are the commercial compendia such as
MIMS, PDR and the Canadian CPS. MIMS are produced by commercial
publishing organizations and the CPS is produced by the Canadian
Pharmacists Association but all of them allow advertising.
Unfortunately, this latter group is often the most heavily used source
for a variety of reasons. First, the advertising underwrites the
production costs and so doctors and pharmacists usually receive these
volumes for free. Second, they are usually a comprehensive list of the
available products in a country.
--
Joel Lexchin MD
121 Walmer Rd.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5R 2X8
T: +416-964-7186
F: +416-923-9515
e mail: joel.lexchin@utoronto.ca
--
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