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- Ken J Harvey1
- Agnes I Vitry2
- Elizabeth Roughead3
- Rosalie Aroni4
- Nicola Ballenden5
- Ralph Faggotter6
- 1 School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC.
- 2 School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA.
- 3 Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC.
- 4 Australian Consumers’ Association, Marrickville, NSW.
- 5 Kings Park, SA.
Heather Jones and Deborah Monk from Medicines Australia provided helpful information on regulatory matters. Contributors to the General Practice Computer Group Talk (GPCG_talk) email discussion forum provided vigorous and thoughtful opinions on the topic. In particular, we thank Dr Andrew Magennis, Medical Director, Health Communication Network (HCN) for responding to the debate and making a copy of HCN’s prescribing software (Medical Director) available for evaluation.
K J H, A I V and R F are members of Healthy Skepticism (www.healthyskepticism.org), an organisation that aims to improve health by reducing harm from misleading drug promotion. K J H has had a long relationship with Therapeutic Guidelines Limited as author, Chairman of the Antibiotic Writing Committee and Board Member. He was also a member of a World Health Organization Expert Working Party that devised WHO Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion. A I V is a Consultant Editor at the Australian Medicines Handbook. E R is a Board Member of Therapeutic Guidelines Limited and a subscriber to Healthy Skepticism.
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Summary
Objective: To assess pharmaceutical advertisements in prescribing software, their adherence to code standards, and the opinions of general practitioners regarding the advertisements.
Design, setting and participants: Content analysis of advertisements displayed by Medical Director version 2.81 (Health Communication Network, Sydney, NSW) in early 2005; thematic analysis of a debate on this topic held on the General Practice Computer Group email forum (GPCG_talk) during December 2004.
Outcome measures: Placement, frequency and type of advertisements; their compliance with the Medicines Australia Code of Conduct, and the views of GPs.
Results: 24 clinical functions in Medical Director contained advertisements. These included 79 different advertisements for 41 prescription products marketed by 17 companies, including one generic manufacturer. 57 of 60 (95%) advertisements making a promotional claim appeared noncompliant with one or more requirements of the Code. 29 contributors, primarily GPs, posted 174 emails to GPCG_talk; there was little support for these advertisements, but some concern that the price of software would increase if they were removed.
Conclusions: We suggest that pharmaceutical promotion in prescribing software should be banned, and inclusion of independent therapeutic information be mandated.