US FDA debuts 'Bad Ad Program,' urging doctors to report misleading promo

The US Food and Drug Administration has launched a program designed to educate health care providers about their role in ensuring that prescription drug advertising and promotion is truthful, and not misleading. The 'Bad Ad Program' is an FDA-sponsored educational outreach effort administered by the agency's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC), in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

"The Bad Ad Program will help health care providers recognize misleading prescription drug promotion and provide them with an easy way to report this activity to the agency," said Thomas Abrams, director of the DDMAC.

The program will be rolled out in three phases. In phase 1, the DDMAC will engage health care providers at specifically-selected medical conventions and partner with specific medical societies to distribute educational materials. phases 2 and 3 will expand the FDA's collaborative efforts and update the educational materials developed for Phase 1.