Czech drug marketing law tightened up

The Czech Regulation of Advertising Act, as amended earlier this year, has come into effect with a number of restrictions on the marketing and promotion of pharmaceutical products. The objective of the changes is to bring Czech advertising law into line with European Union standards. Advertising is restricted according to whether it targets health care professionals or the general public. In the case of medical staff, advertisements can only carry the product's name and no endorsements. Marketing to the public is restricted to the mention of diseases and the fact that a medication is licensed.

According to a report in the UK-based Legal Week magazine, one of the main changes is the increased seperation of the nursing profession from doctors. Nurses are not permitted to prescribe or supply drugs, however, pharmaceutical manufacturers are allowed to supply nurses with comparative advertising information, training and invite them to attend conferences, provided these are not purely promotional meetings for prescription medicines.

Physicians can accept hospitality from drugmakers, but other family members may not, and there has to be a proportionate level of hospitality to the meeting or conference. Samples can no longer be supplied to the distributors of medicines such as pharmacists, but only prescribing physicians. Limits are now enforced as to the quantity and frequency of samples provided to doctors.