Warnings to be Issued to Drug Companies

Health Minister Bill English said today warnings would be issued to three drug companies who appeared to have breached the requirements of the Medicines Act regarding the advertising of prescription medicines directly to the public.

Future breaches of the Act, after an appropriate period for voluntary compliance, would result in prosecution proceedings being started, he said.

"An investigation by the Ministry of Health has shown what appear to be clear breaches of the Medicines Act 1981 in television advertisements for the drugs Xenical, Havrix and Flixotide. The breaches relate to the fact that information required under the Act is not shown in clearly legible lettering for long enough for the ordinary viewer to read it.

"In addition, the Ministry investigation concluded that the Xenical advertisements included information which could be misleading. In particular, authorised uses, while technically in place, were preceded by information which could be misleading, and the advertisements contained the statement "for countless New Zealanders, help is here" which could also be misleading when the approved indication is for signficant obesity.

"While there appear to be breaches of the Act, I believe it is appropriate in the first instance to issue warnings to the companies involved. This sends a clear message to all drug companies that they must strictly comply with the Act, but also allows time for voluntary compliance.

"The Medicines Regulations were principally designed to ensure doctors got information about drugs that enabled them to prescribe acurately. However, the sort of technical information aimed at doctors is probably of limited use to the lay person.

"There is a growing tendency amoung drug companies world-wide to direct-market to consumers. In light of this it may be that the Medicines Regulations need modernising to ensure advertisements include relevant consumer information and I have asked the Ministry for recommendations on this.

"The Ministry will also work with the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure relevant consumer information is included in the Authority's Code for Therapeutic Advertising," said Mr English.