Adherence of drug promotional literatures to the World Health Organization ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion

Abstract

Background: Doctors rely on drug advertisements provided by the pharmaceutical industry as an authentic source of drug information. However, they are found to be highly incomplete, biased, and inaccurate, thus leading to irrational drug use. Aims and Objectives: To assess the adherence of printed drug promotional literature (DPL) provided to private medical practitioners using the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for ethical drug promotion. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the printed DPLs distributed to private practitioners by medical representatives in their outpatient clinics were randomly collected. The DPLs were categorized into full and reminder advertisements and were analyzed based on the WHO guidelines. Results: A total of 206 DPLs were collected, of which the majority (61.7%) were reminder DPLs. All the full DPLs had the generic and brand name, dosage form, and active ingredient (s). Therapeutic uses, manufacturer name, manufacturer address, dosage regimen, references, and side effects were mentioned in 60.8%, 60.8%, 13.9%, 8.9%, 10.1%, and 5.1% of them, respectively. Precautions, contra-indications, and interactions were present in only one full DPL. Concerning reminder DPLs, brand name, generic name, active ingredient (s), manufacturer name, and manufacturer address were mentioned in 100%, 96.9%, 96.1%, 52%, and 26.8% of them, respectively. Conclusion: Our study shows that none of the full DPLs and only one-fourth of reminder DPLs fulfilled all the WHO criteria. Due to rampant unethical drug promotional practices, it is essential to train doctors on critical evaluation of DPLs and stringent laws should be enforced to improve the quality of DPLs and mandate ethical drug promotion.