Assessment of Consistency between Claims and References Referred to in Pharmaceutical Advertising Brochures in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Drug advertisement brochures (DABs) contain claims that are often supplemented by references in medical literature. Several studies have evaluated the DABs as they are commonly distributed by drug companies to practicing physicians. The objective of this study is to assess the consistency between the claims and references referred to in the DABs in Saudi Arabia. DABs were collected from medical practitioners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Authors developed a protocol to be followed for quality assessment of the DABs. The vast majority of cited scientific papers were indexed in PubMed. Consequently, each reference was categorized as: justifiable, false, exaggerated or ambiguous. A total of 89 DABs were collected; 48 (53.9%) brochures were excluded from further analysis and the remaining 41 brochures (46.1%) contained 240 references with an approximate average of 5.9 references per DAB. A total of 201 cited papers were traced (83.8%). The majority of references (93.0%) supported the claims for which they were cited. However, 1.5%, 4.0% and 1.5% of claims were deemed inaccurate/false, exaggerated, and ambiguous, respectively. This study supports that the majority of the claims made in the DABs of pharmaceutical companies in Saudi Arabia were unreferenced. However, most of the evidence presented to substantiate claims made was considered true.

<p>Critical Evaluation of Drug Advertisements in a Medical College in Lalitpur, Nepal</p>

“…These findings were different compared to other studies where a higher percentage of claims made by DAs were supported by appropriate references. 1,15,25 A Spanish review showed that in 44% of the claims for which a reference was cited, the referenced studies did not support the claim. 13 Analysis as per WHO ethical criteria showed that all DAs had mentioned the generic names, brand names, active drug per dosage forms and their approved therapeutic uses.…”

“…14 These criteria are in accordance with the HAI criteria and also with a recent article. 15 A standard approach was used to code the advertisements. The DAs were independently analyzed by the first and second authors who then met, compared notes and arrived at a consensus, if required.…”