New Zealand is one of two developed countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medicine. Critics claim a proposed trade deal could make advertising more worthwhile if drug-buying agency Pharmac is affected. Health reporter Eileen Goodwin looks at the issue. <\/p>\n
Drug advertising is relatively low-level in New Zealand, but critics fear that could change if agreement is reached on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the controversial commerce and trade deal under negotiation. <\/p>\n
Critics claim doctors' time is wasted dealing with increased demand for medicine, and that patients are at greater risk of exposure to newer, potentially riskier drugs. <\/p>\n
However, the industry - and a University of Otago medical ethics professor - argue the time of doctors as gatekeepers of medical information has long gone. The industry argues that as advertising is regulated, it is a safer information source than the internet. <\/p>\n
Just over 10 years ago, opponents harnessed health sector interest groups and ''got within inches'' of persuading politicians to ban the advertisements, campaign leader Prof Les Toop recalls. <\/p>\n
''We managed the front page of the NBR three times in a row ... saying what awful people we were,'' Prof Toop said. <\/p>\n
Prof Toop, a University of Otago general practice authority at the Christchurch campus, said he still wanted the ads banned, but acknowledged the industry tightened its standards. However, the self-regulation framework was essentially a ''joke''; few medical people bothered complaining any more about individual adverts. <\/p>\n
''I suspect it's still unfinished business for various people.'' <\/p>\n
The campaign gained momentum because of outrage in the early 2000s about some big-ticket campaigns that doctors felt had been misleading. <\/p>\n
New Zealand lacked an independent source of information about medicines, and he did not accept advertising filled the gap. <\/p>\n
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Medicine run amok, or mere advice?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Zealand is one of two developed countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medicine. Critics claim a proposed trade deal could make advertising more worthwhile if drug-buying agency Pharmac is affected Continue reading