E-drug: Direct-to-consumer ads and Internet (cont'd)
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Dear colleagues,
I read the message from Mr. Billy Futter and I would like to comment
on this issue.
In Lithuania this is a very big problem because advertising of
medicines (including web sites) is very popular. We are responsible for
control of these advertisements.
What is the problem. Many young people, often not pharmacists,
create web sites and include advertising of medicines. That is the real
business, as many people look for these web sites (the advertisement
is very often misleading or showing only good properties of drugs).
People are then expected to go to the doctor and ask to be prescribed
that medicine. This is one problem. The other is that in our country
and in the other European countries (CADREC) advertising and drug
information is understood to be the same. Our pharmaceutical
representatives say: "We deliver information to doctors! Why do you
want to prohibit this?" However, in my view information and
advertising is not the same. Information must be independent of the
companies' profit. Quality, safety and reliability have to be regulated
under the law, as this kind of information is related to health. We have
rules for advertising (they are prepared in accordance to an EU
directive) and in May we adopted a new issue of those rules in
Lithuania. There is a regulation that advertising of prescription and
reimbursable medicines is prohibited on Internet and other media. But I
think that the problem could be solved differently in different
countries.
Sincerely,
Vanda Zidoniene
Drug Information Centre
State Medicines Control Agency
Ministry of Health
Lithuania
E-mail: VandaZidoniene@VVKT.LT
http://vic.vvkt.lt
tel (370 2) 627860,
fax (370 2) 222948
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