House Committee leaders warn pharmaceutical companies to end use of 'misleading' advertisements

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) in a recent letter warned four pharmaceutical companies to end the use of "misleading and deceptive" direct-to-consumer advertisements for medications, CQ HealthBeat reports.

The lawmakers sent the letter to Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer and Schering-Plough, as well as the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

In the letter, the lawmakers asked the pharmaceutical companies to end the use of health care professionals in DTC ads and to wait for two years before they air such ads for new medications, among other requests. According to Dingell, the lawmakers sent the letter after pharmaceutical industry representatives failed to assure them of their efforts to reduce adverse effects of DTC ads at a May 8 hearing of the subcommittee.

Dingell in a statement said, "Marketing department leaders have failed to commit to reducing misleading and deceptive ads, so we're now asking the CEOs to make this agreement." Stupak said, "We intend to make certain that drug companies market their product properly in order to protect American consumers from manipulative commercials designed to mislead and deceive for profit."

Ken Johnson, senior vice president of PhRMA, said that the group will maintain "honest and open dialogue" with lawmakers over DTC ads, which he said "inform patients potentially suffering from disease" and help the "entire health care system in the U.S. by encouraging patients to seek medical attention that may help them manage their conditions and avoid unneeded hospital stays or surgeries" (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 5/20).