Análise da adequação das propagandas de medicamentos dirigidas à categoria médica distribuídas no Sul do Brasil

Abstract

Drug advertisements for prescription drugs gathered from private clinics and hospitals in southern Brazil were analyzed. None of the 127 advertisement inserts that were analyzed complied with all the criteria specified by Brazilian legislation. The official Brazilian generic drug name was present in 95% of the advertisements, but always in finer and/or fainter print. With regard to the WHO ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion the study showed that only 59% of the advertisement inserts declared the product composition and only 43% provided information on precautions, and in most of these cases (73%(, the precautions were in fine print and difficult to read. Most of the advertisements declared the product dosage in more properly-sized print. The main advertising claims were efficacy, safety, faster action, and high tolerability. In conclusion, the analysis demonstrated that most advertisements fail to comply with either the Brazilian legislation on medicinal products and/or the WHO ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion. To improve this situation it thus seems necessary to develop more effective instruments to monitor quality of information provided to prescribers by the drug advertisers.

Propagandas de medicamentos psicoativos: análise das informações científicas

“…18,19,24 In contrast to previous studies that have reported low citation of references in advertising claims, 15,17,22 in the present study, 91% of the materials reviewed had at least one reference. It can be noted that today pharmaceutical companies tend to provide references as marketing strategies of drug promotion.…”

“…14,15 Studies have also reported both misinformation and unbalanced information in drug promotion supporting their use: indication, presentation and dosage are often included and highlighted by larger font sizes and colorful text, whereas information restraining drug use, such as contraindications, warnings, precautions and adverse reactions, when available, are less evident and not as visible. 15,17,22 However, these studies have not investigated the consistency between promotional claims and related cited references.…”

Influence of the legislation on the advertisement of psychoactive medications in Brazil

“…Pizzol et al 21 who analyzed pieces of medication advertisement distributed to physicians in two cities of the state of Rio Grande do Sul observed that 73% of them presented the posology in larger print sizes than those of general precautions which were present in only 43% of the collected material.…”

Drug advertising directed to pharmacists in Brazil: information or sales promotion?

“…Even if the information is neither complete nor of good quality, some technical information about the products is presented. This was observed in the Brazilian studies developed by Pizzol, Silva and Schenkel (1998), Barros and Joany (2002), Mastroianni, Galduróz and Carlini (2003), Nascimento (2003), Luchessi et al (2005), Soares, Lasmar and Figueiredo (2005), Wzorek et al (2007), , , Soares (2008). International studies, such as the ones by Mejía and Avalos (2001), Loke, Koh and Ward (2002), Cooper et al (2003), Riera, Fuente and Rodríguez (2007), presented similar results.…”

“…They confirm that this is not a reliable source of information for lay people, nor for health professionals. Brazilian studies on the quality of information given to medical doctors show that all advertisements are made in order to increase sales, omitting or neglecting important data on contraindications, side effects, risks, and other warnings (Pizzol, Silva, Schenkel, 1998;Barros, Joany, 2002;Mastroianni, Galduróz, Carlini, 2003;Nascimento, 2003;Luchessi et al, 2005;Soares, Lasmar, Figueiredo, 2005;Wzorek et al, 2007;Soares, 2008). These data agree with international studies which have been developed for decades as well.…”