AstraZeneca Wants FDA To Review TV Ads
4 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // April 25th, 2008 // 3:18 pm
The drugmaker is urging Congress to revive a program for those who want to voluntarily submit their television commercials for regulatory review, according to a letter provided to Reuters. Congress created the program last year but it has not taken effect, and lawmakers failed to give the FDA full authority to collect and spend industry fees that would fund the reviews.
AstraZeneca wrote to four senior lawmakers asking them to encourage their colleagues to provide the necessary FDA power for ad reviews to get under way. “Without such resources, (FDA’s advertising division) cannot timely review ads and some biopharmaceutical companies, regrettably, may forgo advisory reviews,” according to the letter.
Some lawmakers, however, oppose having the industry fund more FDA activities. Drug and medical device makers pay hundreds of millions of dollars each year for product reviews and other work. Critics say the funding may pressure FDA staff to act in industry’s interest, instead of the public. Drugmakers pushed for the program to address criticism their promotions are overblown and lead to unnecessary prescribing. Some submit commercials to the FDA for review now, but staff to evaluate the ads is limited. If Congress doesn’t fully authorize the fees, AstraZeneca urged the lawmakers to add more taxpayer funding for FDA ad reviews, Reuters writes.
Skeptic
A fairly transparent and disingenuous attempt to take the high road by encouraging the funding of an program that has zero chance of happening. PR fluff
Nathan
Skeptic,
It’s rather funny that pharma catches so much flack from people like you when we do the “wrong” thing. But now that a company is standing up for what is right, you portray as “PR fluf”. We just can’t win in this business.
Jack2
I think AZ would be quite happy to get its ads reviewed, to reduce the risk of a lawsuit down the line. Whether they pay the reviewer (in the form of a fee), or the FDA/tax payer pays for the review through increased funding isn’t as important to them as getting the ad reviewed. They just want the thing reviewed.
Typical PR fluff? The industry spent money lobbying for this last year.
Matty
Pure PR gamesmanship!! AZ has never had the reputation for being an angel in the world of Big Pharma, particularly evident by the recent fiasco over their marketing and sales tactics in the oncology area.