EU ban on Rx drug advertising must go

Prescription drug advertising should be allowed on the Internet and in the print media, according to the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, Gunter Verheugen. A draft proposal on new regulations concerning pharmaceutical firms' communication with the public was obtained by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which published extracts.

Previously, the Commission has indicated that it was in favor of a greater degree of direct-to-consumer communication than the pharmaceutical industry was prepared to admit to, at least in public (Marketletters passim). Essentially, the main restriction on DTC in the European Union would be a requirement that information about drugs should be "objective, comprehensive, evidence-based, trustworthy, essentially correct and comprehensible."

The specific areas where Commissioner Verheugen is said to favor more direct communication from drugmakers are on prices, approved indications of agents, their effect and potential adverse events. The choice of criteria for more transparency suggests that increasing competition between drugmakers, for example on price, is an important element of the EC's reasoning.