• The New York Times, Monday, January 22, 2007 12 PM

As Congress prepares for hearings on the user fees that manufacturers pay to speed the reviewing of new drugs by the Food and Drug Administration, pharmaceutical executives are girding themselves for tough questions about drug advertising aimed at consumers. Spending on consumer drug advertising has grown from $1.1 billion in 1997 to an estimated $4.5 billion in 2006.

The pharmaceutical industry seeks to renew the user fee law and add a new set of user fees that would pay for additional F.D.A. employees to evaluate all consumer drug ads before they are air. The user fee law will die in the fall unless Congress acts to renew it.

Both the industry and its critics agree that there should be a pause before the advertising starts; that will give doctors time to learn about a new drug. The companies want the delay to be left up to them, but critics say the F.D.A. should require a wait of up to two years.

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