Advertisements and Representations Directed to Practitioners

Abstract

Although the Act permits advertisements directed to all practitioners to be controlled, to date the emphasis seems to be on controlling only those directed to doctors and dentists. The only controls over advertisements directed at veterinarians are those mentioned in the Act and those applying to data sheets. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that most medicinal products prescribed for human beings in the UK are paid for by the NHS and therefore there is a public interest in keeping the cost of this to a minimum. This is shown by the fact that some advertisements are required to state the basic NHS cost of one day’s treatment or of a course of treatment. One way of achieving this reduction in the drug billis to persuade doctors to prescribe drugs by reference to their generic names rather than their proprietary names. The innovative companies, whose investment in research results in new drugs, obviously want doctors to use the brand names, and therefore advertise to keep these names in front of the doctor. In 1975, the government told the ABPI of its intention to reduce the cost of promotion of drugs by 25% (Pharm.J., 17/5/75, p.441). Apparently, in 1973 M£32 had been spent on home sales promotion by companies with sales exceeding M£l, and this amounted to about 13.8% of sales. The DHSS proposed that 10% was more suitable and had prepared a formula to calculate how much should be spent bearing in mind a company’s size and expenses. The Medicines Act contains no provisions which enable advertising expenditure to be controlled by the authority, but it is achieved by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS).