As we noted last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched “The Bad Ad Program,” which is designed to educate health care providers about their role in ensuring that prescription drug advertising and promotion is truthful, and not misleading.” The FDA-sponsored educational outreach effort is being administered by the agency’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC), in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER).
The purpose of the Bad Ad Program is to enlist healthcare providers (HCPs) in helping the agency spot misleading prescription drug information. The initiative allows HCPs to anonymously report pharmaceutical drug reps and promotions/advertisements that have clear violations of truthful drug advertising.
Almost a year after the introduction of the program, DoctorDirectory, a leading marketing services company serving healthcare providers and pharmaceutical industry clients, launched a thirteen question survey to assess physician reactions to the program. According to a recent article over 1000 practicing physicians responded to the survey.
The article explained that “physicians surveyed are generally in support of this program.” However, while almost 90% said that they’d be at least “somewhat likely” to report questionable behavior, only 30% were aware of the program.
Moreover, the survey found that “only 30% felt absolutely confident that they are qualified to determine what constitutes inappropriate advertising that could be deemed false, misleading, or off-label.”
In addition, “75% of respondents reported that there is potential for abuse by some HCPs who may have a bias against, or dislike of, a specific pharma company or representative.”
Consequently, FDA and CDER will be offering healthcare professionals, pharmacy students, and medical students in the United States and opportunity to learn more about the FDA and drug regulation. Specifically, on April 28, 2011, at 12 Noon (ET), DDMAC will present a webinar titled, “An Overview of the FDA’s Bad Ad Program.” Catherine Gray, Pharm.D., will present an overview of the FDA’s “Bad Ad” program, specifically focusing on how to identify misleading prescription drug promotion and report this activity to the agency.
Despite this program, the results from this survey “indicate that the Bad Ad Program still has a long way to go before it’s truly an effective tool” and “it remains to be seen whether it will have the intended results that the FDA is seeking.”