Doctors Seek Briefing on New Drugs, Before Consumer Ads
The American Medical Association (AMA) wants physicians to receive a "head start" on patients, regarding details about new drugs and new implantable devices, according to a recent story on MedPage Today.
The AMA is expected to ask the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to place a moratorium on direct-to-consumer advertisements for newly approved drugs and implantable medical devices, until doctors have had time to be fully briefed on the drug's indications, overall profile, and distinguishing therapeutic features and advantages.
"We don't want anything advertised to our patients that hasn't gone through physicians first," said orthopedic surgeon Ralph DiLibero, MD, of Palos Verdes Estates, California.
During its annual meeting, the AMA's House of Delegates approved a package of public health measures that included the request to delay advertising of new drugs until doctors are suitably informed.
Mixing Politics and Science
Also part of the package was a second measure that clearly stated to the FDA and White House that is has had enough of the FDA's mixing science and politics.
According to the AMA, the FDA "should not permit political considerations to overrule scientific evidence in making policy decisions."
When he was asked whether this measure was related to the FDA's ongoing delay in approving over-the-counter (OTC) status for the emergency contraceptive "Plan B", despite the FDA advisory committee's unanimous recommendations, AMA president-elect Ronald Davis, MD, said that the AMA supports OTC sales of Plan B.
"The [Plan B] decision has been delayed long enough," said Dr Davis, a preventive medicine specialist from East Lansing, Michigan. He also noted that the most recent AMA policy on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs supersedes the AMA advertising guidelines drafted in 1993 with the FDA.
The AMA also said that drug companies should not use actors to play the roles of doctors, or other health professionals, in drug advertisements.
The organization objects to drug companies using real physicians as spokespersons for medical products, saying that doctors should be discouraged from directly endorsing products-and if a doctor appears in an ad, "there should be a prominent disclaimer noting that the physician was paid to endorse the drug or device."
Additionally, the AMA is opposed to "any manufacturer (drug or device sponsor) incentive programs for physician prescribing and pharmacist dispensing that are run concurrently with [direct to consumer] advertisements."
Source: AMA: Doctors Demand Hold on Consumer Ads on New Drugs Until Physicians Get Briefed, MedPage Today, June 15, 2006.
Posted: June 2006
