Advertising medicines

Abbreviated advertisements are advertisements which are exempt from the requirement to include prescribing information for the advertised medicine, provided that they meet with the requirements of this clause. 

To advertise medicines not registered by the National Agency of Sanitary Surveillance in the cases demanded by law. 

Human Medicines Directive 2001/83/EC o Title IV Manufacture and imports, o Title VIII Advertising, Title IX Pharmacovigilance, o Title XI Supervision and sanctions... 

Keuringsraad Openlijke Aanprijzzing Geneesmiddlelen [Inspection Board for Public Advertising of Medicines] (Netherlands)... 

The topic of hormones is horribly complicated, so read widely and with care. Most Websites that advertise information about hormones are too simplistic and they should be avoided - particularly those sites that sell hormones, and start with a paragraph or two of pseudo science . Most textbooks of physiology and medicinal chemistry contain sufficient detail. For example, Medicinal Chemistry, F. D. King (ed.), Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, 2002, has a good introduction. 

As usual, Seraphina served as nurse and an advertisement for the beauty products. By greatly exaggerating his wife s age, Cagliostro offered her as proof of the power of his medicines. Her lovely complexion was due to the... 

In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. This allowed herbal medications to be advertised and sold without oversight from the FDA. Specifically, it states that a substance will not legally be classified as a "drug" if it is not represented as treatment for a disease (Heiligenstein and Guenther. 1998 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994). Thus, many herbal medicines are now sold and regulated as dietary supplements. 

In the same period, vendors of proprietary medicines took advantage of our love of the natural to peddle a variety of plant-derived products. These were advertised as safer and more pleasant than those typically employed by physicians. For example, Mrs. Winslow s Soothing Syrup and Kopp s Baby Friend had morphine sulfate as their basic ingredient. Hostetter s Bitters was a 78 proof (39% ethanol) cocktail. This theme is being replayed currently as alternative medicine. This time around, controlled clinical trials are being carried out, slowly, to establish what works and... 

For an enlightening look at early efforts at disease therapy, see D. L. Cowen and W. H. Helfand, Pharmacy, Abrams, New York, 1988. This unique book provides multiple examples of advertisements for early agents asserted to have useful medicinal properties. 

New, powerful techniques in chemistry, odor formulations, bioassays, and olfactometry have supplied us with deeper as well as fresh insights into olfactoiy effects on our behavior. Medicine, psychology, environmental design, occupational safety, air-quality control, marketing, and advertising now consider and contribute to human chemical ecology. 

Except in the United States of America and New Zealand, where direct to consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medicines is allowed, companies are not allowed to communicate directly with patients. The Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPl) Code of Practice has been relaxed a little in this area in recent years and companies can now communicate in a very limited fashion with the general public. Clause 20.2 of the Code allows the provision of non-promotional information either in response to a direct enquiry from an individual or via press conferences, press announcements, lectures and media reports, public relations activities and the like. 

At the present time two relatively recent and relevant Statutory Instruments are available on www.hmso.gov.uk. These are the Medicines (Advertising and Monitoring of Advertising) Amendment Regulations 1999 and the Control of Misleading Advertisements (Amendment) Regulations 2000. 

The EU has approved Council Directive No. 92/28/EEClO (of 31 March 1992, now consolidated as Articles 86 to 100 of Directive 2001/83/EC) on the advertising of medicinal products for human use, thus bringing Member States into line with common requirements and standards. The UK regulations have been amended to comply with the Directive. The Directive, Part IV of the UK Medicines Act 1968 as amended by the Advertising Regulations, and the ABPl Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry are broadly in line with one another. The commentary below on promotion relates primarily to the United Kingdom. While there have been some moves towards the international harmonisation of controls on promotion, these have had only a limited effect, despite the fact that in Europe, Member States all comply with Directive 92/28. 

No person shall issue an advertisement relating to a relevant medicinal product unless that advertisement complies with the particulars listed in the SPC characteristics. 

No person shall issue a misleading advertisement relating to a relevant medicinal product. 

The licensing authority is empowered imder Part VI of the Act to require copies of advertisements issued within the past 12 months to be submitted to it. There are also a number of enabling provisions under Part IV imder which regulations may be made to further control the advertising of medicines. 

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