• New Standard, Monday, April 23, 2007 10:15 AM

Some consumer and health groups charge that prescription-drug ads can be deceitful, interfere with the doctor-patient relationship and lead to unnecessary drug use. While the Food and Drug Administration requires mandatory risk information in ads and bars "false and misleading" messages, it is not required to review them before they hit the air. So it's not clear whether the FDA reviews most advertisements at all.

For instance, a Government Accountability Office report last year found FDA reviews only a "small portion" of the ads it get, and does not use consistent criteria when doing so. And it does not even track the percentage of submissions reviewed. Now, the FDA plans to ask Congress to let it charge drug companies fees to fund reviews and hopes it can raise more than $6 million a year through the program.

Of course, groups like Public Citizen and Consumers Union claim FDA review of drug advertisements could be tainted if it is funded by the companies it regulates. They want stricter regulation of the drug companies and say getting rid of financial links between FDA and the pharmaceutical industry is the first step.

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