| Abstract |
: |
Purpose: In India, pharmaceutical advertising is governed by ‘The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954’, and ‘The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945’. These acts do not specify the ‘minimum essential information requirements’ for an advertisement, keeping this area ill-defined. The ‘Organization of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI)’, in its ‘Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices’, provides a guideline for the information requirements in advertisements. Our study is intended to analyze the ‘completeness of information content’, in pharmaceutical advertisements, published in 2009-10 in Indian Scientific journals, in the context of OPPI code.
Method: Indian Scientific Journals (2009-10 issues) were surveyed for pharmaceutical advertisements. Advertisements were classified as ‘Full’ or ‘Reminder’ advertisements and were separately analyzed for the presence of information on ‘Brand name’; ‘Active ingredient(s)’; ‘Marketer’s Name and Address’; ‘Date of Production of advertisement’; ‘Abbreviated Prescribing Information (only for Full advertisements)’ and ‘Overall completeness’. Data was expressed as absolute numbers and percentage.
Results: Full advertisements (n=34) demonstrated 41.2% of ‘Overall completeness’. ‘Date’ was missing in 52.9%, while ‘Marketer’s Name and Address’ in 17.6% of advertisements. ‘Active ingredient’ was mentioned in all, while ‘Abbreviated Prescribing Information’ was complete in 97.1% of Full advertisements. Reminder advertisements (n=134) demonstrated 10.4% of ‘Overall completeness’. ‘Date’ was missing in 88.1%, ‘Marketer’s Name and Address’ in 29.1% and ‘Active ingredient’ in 8.2% of Reminder advertisements.
Conclusion: Low percentage of completeness, as observed in our study, indicates a lack of adherence to OPPI code and need for mandatory regulations, to ensure information completeness in pharmaceutical advertisements. |
Copyright to ENGG Journals Publications
