AMA calls on US DTC advert moratorium

The USA's largest doctors' association, the American Medical Association, has demanded that the federal government should ban direct-to-consumer advertising by drugmakers, at least for a period that would allow doctors time to inform themselves about the drug's proper use. The call came at the AMA's annual meeting of its house of delegates, which also saw Ronald Davis, a preventative medicine specialist from Michigan, USA, elected to serve as AMA president.

Dr Davis said: "a temporary moratorium on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescribed drugs and medical devices will benefit both the patient and physician." If drug firms fail to introduce such a suspension voluntarily, he believes the government should impose a ban.

The AMA's orginial suggestion was that advertising of drugs should be banned during their first year on the market, to allow medical professionals to acquaint themselves with the product. However, the final version simply calls on the Food and Drug Administration to set a time-span, which could vary according to the new product's innovative complexity. Dr Davis said: "physicians will have the opportunity to become better educated on the pros and cons of prescription drug uses before prescribing them and will be better able to determine when they are best suited for their patients' medical needs."