That’s what two Congressmen are asking the ceo’s at Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Merck and Johnson & Johnson. John Dingell and Bart Stupak, Michigan Democrats who run the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also sent a letter to PhRMA’s Billy Tauzin asking if the trade group will update its guidelines.
The move comes less than two weeks [...]

Right now, that call won’t go through, but an FDA advisory committee will meet tomorrow to discuss the possibility of including in televised DTC ads a statement encouraging consumers to report negative side effects to MedWatch. Right now, such statements are only required for DTC print ads.
The meeting comes amid ongoing debate over DTC ads. [...]

The big debate about drug promotion may focus on DTC advertising, but a pair of UCLA medical school professors believes product placement should be considered a distinct form of promotion that requires new FDA guidelines.
After all, there may well be more restrictions on DTC after the presidential elections, and consumers are increasingly using TiVo and [...]

The FDA continues to be slow in sending warning or untitled letters when the agency suspects drugmakers violated DTC rules, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, FDAnews reports.
Last year, the agency took an average of six months to issue regulatory letters citing DTC violations, Marcia Crosse, who heads the GAO’s [...]

Yes, we are trying something new today. With the enormous interest in DTC ads, in general, and the controversies surrounding the Lipitor and Vytorin advertising, in particular, we thought you would enjoy watching the hearing as it takes place.
Not only that - special just for you - we are including another feature that allows [...]

The new campaign appears to replace the “My Time To Quit” ads that ran after links to suicide were reported earlier this year. A Pfizer spokesman tells us the drugmaker is “exploring” advertising Chantix again in various print and TV outlets after holding talks with the FDA, and claims the ads are being revived because [...]

Want to know the full story behind those famous Bob Jarvik ads for Lipitor? How about the rationale for heavily promoting Vytorin? Then tune in next Thursday May 8 to the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on direct-to-consumer advertising. It promises to be a good show.
The subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is chaired by [...]

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 [...]

An industry that usually favors Republicans voted in favor of Barack Obama during a mock election held this week at the annual DTC National Conference. The Democratic hopeful won a “primary” vote against Hillary Clinton by a wide margin of 59 percent to 40 percent. And against John McCain, the Republican nominee, Obama garnered a [...]

An Internet video ad for the Pfizer impotence pill was tagged by the FDA for failing to include the necessary info about the risk of heart attacks or vision loss. In an April 16 letter to the drugmaker, the FDA writes the video ad that appeared on CNN.com “raises public health and safety concerns through [...]