Ok, so we’ve come to accept that digital media is going to play a dominant role in the future of pharma marketing activities (now being dubbed pharma3.0). As I mentioned in my last post there are some trailblazers who are championing the use of highly interactive channels such as the iphone or Nintendo wii. Now the worry is that pharma execs will note the potential gains of pursuing marketing activities through digital and social media but that it will just remain a pipe dream. The fear of becoming entrenched in a complex web of legislation and or (in extreme circumstances) punishment in the form of civil and criminal sanctions is just too difficult to stomach.
To help patients to become informed of and receive the best care available to them pharmas need to engage in open dialogue. In the eyes of the pharma exec this is carries a high level of risk. Of course risk is only risk if the boundaries which lie between permissible and non-permissible marketing activities are marred.
My beginners guide to direct to consumer advertising or marketing of controlled medicines is as follows*.
The code of practice operated by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority is the pivotal regulatory mechanism for the pharmaceutical industry**. Clause 20 of this code details the rules on relations with the general public and media.
1. The Code states that prescription only medicines must not be advertised to the general public.
2. Statements must not be made which encourage members of the public to ask their doctors to prescribe a specific medicine.
3. The code states that members of the general public should be referred to a doctor
if they approach companies with questions about personal medical matters.
4. The introduction of a new medicine must not be made known to the general public until ‘reasonable’ steps are made to inform relevant health professionals.
5. Pharma companies are held responsible by the code for information about their products issued by their public relations firms.
6. Information presented to the public about medicines must be balanced and factual. ‘It must not raise unfounded hopes of successful treatment or be misleading with respect to the safety of the product,’ the clause states.
This part of the clause ‘allows for the provision of non-promotional information about prescription medicines to the general public either in response to a direct inquiry from an individual, including inquiries from journalists, or by dissemination of such information’ via relations with the press. However, all such information must observe the principles set out in the clause.
*In the UK
** The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
