Heartburn pill ad 'misleading'

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http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7625757%255E1702,00.html

 

Heartburn pill ad 'misleading'

 

21Oct03

 

AN advertisement for a heartburn pill with a rugby player swooping to score a

try and the slogan " experience the power " features on a new website targeting

misleading drug promotion.

 

The advertisement, also featuring an orchestra conductor and an attractive

aerial skier, has already been the subject of complaints lodged by the company's

competitors.

But the complaints were dismissed by the industry regulator Medicines Australia,

which represents drug makers.

The ad for Nexium, marketed by AstraZeneca, is the first to feature on the

AdWatch website.

AdWatch was launched on October 1 by the doctors group Healthy Skepticism to

keep a check on the promotional activities of drug companies.

Adelaide GP Peter Mansfield, who founded the group, said the ad gave the

impression Nexium was more powerful than similar drugs based on misleading

comparisons.

The ad claims that " Nexium 40g offers greater healing power than either (of two

competitors) " .

The fact that Nexium 40g was being compared against 20g of the competing drugs

was only stated in the fine print.

Dr Mansfield said the ad also played on doctors' desire for power to heal

patients and control illness, while cashing in on World Cup fever.

He said misleading drug advertising was a serious problem because it could sway

doctors to prescribe drugs that were more harmful, more expensive or less

effective than necessary.

With up to $1.5 billion spent on drug promotion each year in Australia alone,

marketing was leading to exponential growth in the national drug budget at the

expense of other health areas, he said.

He said there were problems with the current self-regulatory system which

usually amounted to a slap on the wrist for offenders.

" Would you expect a code of conduct for house robbers to work? " he said.

" Drug companies really have to do what works to increase the sales of their

expensive new drugs.

" The problem (with misleading drug ads) is that people are harmed.

" They don't fool all of the doctors all of the time but their techniques work

well enough to give them a return on that billion-dollar-plus investment. "

The Nexium ad would be referred to the Australian Competition and Consumer

Commission, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and Medicines Australia, he

said.

The advertisement appeared in the September issue of Australian Family

Physician.

Comment from AstraZeneca was not immediately available.

This report appears on news.com.au.

 

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