Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Name:

E-mail:

Phone Number:

Zip Code:

Your Question:

Editor: Renee Preston
Profession: Attorney at Law

Category: Accutane News

According to a press release from Illinois Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), the FDA has sent 170 letters over the past 5 years to pharmaceutical companies regarding "false" or "misleading" advertising of certain prescription drugs. Accutane is one of the drugs on that list. Does misleading drug marketing affect consumers? Can it pose danger to patients who may not be aware of the detrimental side effects of some drugs?

A report from the U.S. PIRG entitled, "Turning Medicine Into Snake Oil: How Pharmaceutical Marketers Put Patients At Risk," explores the problem of misleading and false marketing by pharmaceutical companies through sales representatives, doctors, and advertising.

This report offers six case studies of deceptive marketing of prescription drugs, including Accutane, and attempts to show that the FDA is not doing an effective job of policing these advertising practices by drug manufacturers.

The Illinois PIRG also reports that:

• From 2001-2005, 85 companies received 170 notices from the FDA explaining that the marketing for 150 different drugs was false and/or misleading.

• 62% of the false or misleading messages targeted doctors, and those messages were expressed by 38 different types of advertising. By contrast, the public was exposed to 17 different types of false or misleading ads.

• The false messages were serious: 35% misrepresented risk; 22% promoted unproven uses; and 38% made unsupported or misleading claims. For deceptive messages targeting doctors, 37% misrepresented risk; 24% promoted unproven uses; and 36% made unsupported or misleading claims.