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Drugs advertising to consumers: on the increase

In France, pharmaceutical firms are now allowed to advertise to the consumer drugs that will no longer be reimbursed, as early as six months before actual removal from the list.

Until now, advertising drugs to the consumer was banned in France, both for prescription drugs and drugs reimbursed by social security (except for vaccines and drugs used to help give up smoking). This ban has just been relaxed by a law passed in 2004 and a decree in August 2005 which authorise direct-to-consumer advertising for non-prescription drugs scheduled to be removed from the list of reimbursable medicines within 6 months. If veinotonic drugs, for example, end up being non-reimbursable (as announced by the minister for health at the beginning of 2004, although it has not yet been decided), it is highly likely that before they are removed from the list of reimbursable drugs, they will be the focus of an intensive consumer advertising campaign. Provisions have been made to ensure that the resulting additional cost for social security during the last 6 months of reimbursement does not exceed a certain limit, but this agreement between the pharmaceutical companies and the government has been kept quiet. This extension of advertising reflects the industry's determination to step up advertising for all drugs (prescription and over-the-counter, reimbursed or otherwise) directly to the consumer or by "educating" the public about disease.

©Prescrire October 2005

Source: "Publicité grand public : toujours plus" Rev Prescrire 2005 ; 25 (265) : 653.

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