Health Canada Views Consumer Rx Ads

Canada's federal health authority has held a workshop with the drug industry, consumers, doctors and government on whether to allow consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

Health Canada's Health Protection Branch told the meeting that while such advertising has flooded in from the USA, where it has been allowed since 1985, the World Health Organization states that it should not generally be permitted.

The Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of Canada told the workshop that "consumers are no longer content to be part of a paternalistic system of health care," that advertising helps educate consumers and curb improper drug use, and suggested that such advertising could be independently monitored. However, the Canadian Drug Manufacturers Association, which represents the generics makers, noted fears that consumer advertising could increase inappropriate prescribing and thus force health care costs up.