Misleading advertising

Is the company making false or misleading advertising claims ... 

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. 

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

The Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations (No. 915). London HMSO, 1988. 

All parts of the advertising of a medicinal product must comply with the particulars listed in the SPC. The advertising of a medicinal product should encourage only the rational use of the medicinal product, by presenting it objectively and without exaggerating its properties, and not so as to be misleading. 

Sponsors are required to submit copies of promotional materials, for example, journal advertisements, detail pieces such as file cards, etc. to FDA at the time of initial dissemination. This means that the sponsor is to submit them to FDA simultaneously with the use of that piece or program. It is also possible for companies to engage FDA in review of proposed programs or advertisements, in order to gain feedback on acceptability. This is particularly important for broadcast advertisements aimed at consumers, such as those viewed on television. If promotional materials are deemed to be violative by FDA, for example, if they are false and misleading, a sponsor must withdraw the advertisements and in some cases undertake new campaigns to correct the objectionable statements. 

Where the pages of a two page advertisement are not facing, neither must be false or misleading when read in isolation. 

The ruling thus declared the Virginia statute void and prevented the Board from enforcing it. It did not cover all commercial speech. Laws can ban prescription advertisements that are false and misleading or propose illegal transactions. However, they cannot ban truthful information about lawful economic activity without a stronger justification for the suppression of commercial speech. 

Responding to a suit against the FDA by the Washington Legal Foundation, a district court judge rules that the FDA cannot restrict truthful, non-misleading speech in DTC advertising. 

Are not false or misleading in any respect. For a prescription drug, this would include communicating that the advertised product is available only by prescription and that only a prescribing healthcare professional can decide whether the product is appropriate for a patient. 

All too often, an applicant applies for what sounds like the ideal job, only to have his or her expectations shattered when the applicant discovers that the job advertisement was misleading or misrepresentative. No matter how well a job opening is described, it s your responsibility as the applicant to ask specific questions to avoid misunderstandings and to ensure that the job you accept is the one that you really want and for which you are truly qualified. 

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