Responsible Advertising to Consumers
Responsible direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising can help raise consumer awareness about health and disease, and medicines and treatment options. As a member of PhRMA, we worked with others in our industry to develop voluntary principles to ensure that DTC advertising is done responsibly. Guiding Principles on Direct to Consumer Advertisements About Prescription Medicines, launched in 2006, go beyond FDA regulations, including educating physicians prior to any new DTC advertising campaign and promoting health and disease awareness as part of DTC advertising. Abbott complies with these principles.
PhRMA also created the Office of Accountability to receive public comments regarding DTC advertising. In 2007, the group released a report analyzing nearly 500 recent comments, primarily from patients and consumers. Most comments addressed the public health benefits of DTC advertising, such as promoting awareness. Many patients responded positively to educational elements. Negative comments tended to focus on details of individual ads.
The Office of Accountability Report 
In a related effort to receive feedback on pharmaceutical advertising, PhRMA assembled a panel of independent health professionals to view television and print ads when the guidelines went into effect. The panel's recommendations are outlined in a new report, "DTC Advertising Trends and PhRMA's ‘Guiding Principles.'"
