Canada Calls For Drug Ad Moratorium

The federal Drugs Directorate of Health Canada's Health Protection Branch has asked pharmaceutical manufacturers for a voluntary eight-month moratorium on consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals.

The agency is also proposing to hold a conference in the late spring to discuss whether the current Food and Drug Act regulations covering such advertising need to be changed.

While the Act currently prohibits any direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs other than with respect to "the brand name, proper name, common name, price and quantity of the drug," the Directorate has noted its concern at the growing amount of advertisements in consumer journals which gets around these prohibitions by providing every detail of the product except its name.