Analysis of written advertising material distributed through community pharmacies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BackgroundAdvertising is a crucial component of pharmaceutical industry promotion. Research indicates that information on advertisement materials might be inadequate, inaccurate, biased, and misleading.ObjectiveTo analyse and critically assess the information presented in print pharmaceutical advertisements in Saudi Arabia.MethodsPharmaceutical advertisements were collected from 280 community pharmacies in Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia. The advertisements were evaluated using criteria derived from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) regulation, the World Health Organization (WHO) ethical medicinal drug promotion criteria, and other principles reported in similar studies. The data were extracted independently by two of the researchers using a standardized assessment form.ResultsOne hundred eighty five printed advertisements were included in the final sample. Approximately half of the advertisements (n = 94, 51%) were for over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and 71 (38%) were for prescription-only medication. Information such as the name of active ingredients was available in 168 (90.8%) advertisements, therapeutic uses were mentioned in 156 (98.7%) of analysed advertisements. Safety information related to side effects, precautions, and major interactions were stated in 53 (28.5%), 58 (31%), and 33 (16.5%) advertisements, respectively. Only 119 advertisements (64%) provided references for information presented.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that print advertisements do not convey all the information necessary for safe prescribing. These results have implications for the regulation of drug advertising and the continuing education of pharmacists.

Pharmaceutical brochures in Lebanon: do they meet WHO recommendations?

“…The least frequently found information are those concerning drug interactions (20%), the name of their active ingredients (22%), precautions or contraindications (24%) and side effects (26%). These results are consistent to those found in other studies [5,8,19,28,30,[33][34][35][36]. They are probably due to the fact that pharmaceutical companies tend to present information showing the drug efficacy and avoid highlighting the info on its safety of side effects.…”

Evaluating the reliability and accuracy of the promotional brochures for the generic pharmaceutical companies in Iraq using World Health Organization guidelines

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“…These results are matching to the findings of other researchers. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] Some other authors, arrived at even a darker picture; where they put it: "adverse reactions, warnings about interactions and contra-indications, were absent from all promotional printed materials studied." 20 Other researchers advised that, "Physicians should be cautious about drawing conclusions based on data presented on brochures provided by pharmaceutical companies."…”

“…29 Accordingly, they might not be of much help to the healthcare providers, to firmly rely on, if rational use of such medications is to be practiced. 22 As, the promoting companies themselves were feeling the inadequacy of the medication information they provide in their brochures, many pharmaceutical promotional brochures contain a footnote showing the contact address of the promoting companies encouraging interested healthcare providers to contact them if they might ever need more information about the promoted products. Pakistani researchers studying these encouraging invitations, reported very weak responses, from those companies, to such written requests from doctors.…”