Published: May 20, 2008 04:41 pm            

GUEST EDITORIAL: FDA power not enough to change drug ads

“Designed to deceive and mislead” is what the chairman of a congressional committee had to say last week about the ad campaigns of some major pharmaceutical companies.

Designed to be weak, unfortunately, is an equally accurate characterization of a law passed last year to give the Food and Drug Administration more power to regulate direct-to-consumer drug advertising.

The FDA will certainly have more muscle than before, but that was not hard to achieve. The FDA has been particularly weak in the area of advertising regulation. ...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee called three major pharmaceutical firms on the carpet for their ad campaigns. ...

All of the ads have been yanked. The companies’ contention that the problems were caused by misimpressions does not ring true. We doubt that any of the slick ads the industry runs ever air without careful corporate reviews to make sure they create exactly the impression the company intends.

The new law will give the FDA authority to review ads before they air instead of after the fact, which is now the case. Unfortunately, the law does not give the agency enough power to order changes. The FDA can just make suggestions, and that is not enough. ...

— The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.

        

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