Europeans may relax direct-to-consumer drug ad restrictions

European pharmaceutical manufacturers seem to be prevailing in their desire to advertise direct to consumers. The High Level Pharmaceutical Forum, a once-a-year meeting convened by the European Commission, concluded at its recent meeting that "all the relevant players" should be able to provide an improved "quality of information" to consumers – though the forum fell short of supporting direct-to-consumer advertising as practised in the US. In particular, it emphasised the "added value for patients and citizens of providing information on medical conditions jointly with information on treatment options."

This is particularly important to Canada, and by extension to the Canadian magazine industry, because it would then be bracketed by competitors carrying information, if not ads, for brand name pharmaceuticals, something Canadian magazines are not allowed to do. The Health Council of Canada says that, far from relaxing rules on DTCA, Canada should reinforce restrictions. Magazines Canada, on the other hand, estimates that relaxed regulations could be worth up to US$50 million annually in advertising to Canadian publishers.

Canadian publishers have long lamented the fact that U.S. titles coming into Canada, while technically subject to the laws, never see them enforced, and that this inequity is exacerbated by the the dramatic increase of U.S.-based television broadcasting of drug advertisements.

The EU's enterprise and industry minister, Gunther Verheugen, is said to be working on draft legislation suggesting that drug manufacturers be allowed to market their products in an "objective and unbiased" way both in writing and online.