WHO can tackle pharma advertising

BMJ talk medicine

The array of options available to pharmaceutical companies, to advertise their drugs, is incredibly broad - and the amount that they spend is increasing, with some reports saying it’s up 60% in the last five years. In most countries, there are pretty strict rules to limit the ways in which Pharma can spend their advertising dollars - but the WHO guidelines which have informed many of those rules are now 30 years out of date. A new analysis on bmj.com “Ethical drug marketing criteria for the 21st century“ proposes some ways in which those guidelines should be updated, we're joined two of the authors - Lisa Parker and Lisa Bero - from the Charles Perkins centre at the faculty of pharmacy at the university of Sydney to discuss. Read the full analysis: https://www.bmj.com/content/361/bmj.k1809