Drug ads to get more FDA Scrutiny

The Food and Drug Administration's current budget for reviewing consumer drug advertisements is larger than in the previous five years combined.
 
But whether that level of funding will be sustained and continue to come from taxpayers — or will be raised from drugmakers through new user fees — is likely to be battled out in Congress as it addresses future FDA funding.
 
The FDA received $6.1 million for the current fiscal year to check the fairness and accuracy of consumer drug ads. That's up from $2.2 million the previous year and $1 million the year before.

The FDA has long been so overwhelmed by drug industry ad materials that only a "small portion" is reviewed, the Government Accountability Office said in a 2006 report. The FDA often didn't declare consumer ads false or misleading until after ad campaigns were over, the GAO said.