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Canadians Exposed to Banned US Drug Advertising: UBC Study
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by cyn.khoo | May 28, 2009 at 10:05 am
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A legal loophole allows US drugs with "black box" warnings (signifying serious or life-threatening side effects) to advertise in the Canadian market, reveals UBC researchers Barbara Mintzes, Steve Morgan, and James M. Wright.
The UBC study found that of the eight drugs most heavily advertised on television in 2005-06, four had black box warnings and five had been subject to Health Canada safety advisories.
While direct-to-consumer advertising is illegal in Canada, pharmaceutical companies are allowed to produce "reminder ads", which state the drug brand name with no other information or health claims. As a result, drug companies banned from advertising their products in the US at all, due to their black box warnings, advertise to Canadians through reminder ads.
Researchers say that failure to address this loophole directly counteracts the Canadian government's ban on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, and has exposed the Canadian public to over $90 million of pharmaceutical ads, some marketing drugs with life-threatening risks.
“It makes no sense to issue safety advisories telling physicians to prescribe a drug cautiously while turning a blind eye to a loophole that allows persuasive advertisements that make the same drug look like an effortless key to happiness and good health,” says Mintzes.
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at 18:58 on May 28th, 2009
There will always be a loophole, one just needs to find it and use it until it gets abused and closed. May just be time to find another loophole ...