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Big Win For Big Pharma In New Ad Law

  • Ad Age, Thursday, September 20, 2007 11:15 AM

The House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to endorse new drug-approval procedures that will now allow the Food and Drug Administration to fine drug companies for misleading direct-to-consumer ads. Many ad groups hail the legislation as a big win for Big Pharma because it does not contain actual curbs on marketing practices that could have put a dent in the $4.5 billion spent annually on DTC ads.

"It is one of the most significant victories for advertising and commercial speech in the past two decades," says Jim Davidson, a lobbyist for ad and media groups.

House and Senate leaders had originally wanted the FDA to be allowed to ban ads for new drugs in a product's first two or three years. Further, another proposal stated that all ads for new drugs would have to carry a warning that not all side effects may be known. The main effect of the bill, if passed by the Senate and signed into law, would be to raise the number of FDA workers who review the ads, but it also gives regulators the power to levy fines of up to $250,000 a day for continuing a misleading ad and up to $500,000 a day for any repeat offense within three years.

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