Update from Denmark

In April the Marketing Overdose blog highlighed a complaint filed by the Danish Consumer Council againtst Pfizer to the Danish Medicines Agency. The company had mentioned one of its own products on a page on its website that should only have provided information about a medical condition.

This, as the Consumer Council rightly pointed out, was in clear violation of Danish Law, which prohibits the advertising of prescription drugs directly to consumers.

To their credit, the Danish Medicines Agency took swift action and ordered Pfizer to remove all references to specific products from the web pages in question.

The Medicines Agency also recently ruled on another of the Consumer Council's complaints. This case involved Panodil (Paracetamol), which was being promoted on a website providing advice about joint pain.

As it is an over-the-counter drug, it is perfectly legal to advertise Panodil directly to the public. However, the Consumer Council found that important information on adverse side effects, dosage recommendations and mixing with certain foods was either entirely absent, or presented in such a way as to make it very difficult for consumers to find.

The Medicines Agency agreed that this was in breach of regulations and asked the website's operator, global pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline, to make the necessary changes.

This blog also reported on a joint letter sent by the Danish Consumer Council and other health organisations to the Minister of Health, expressing concerns about the European Comission (EC)'s 'pharmaceutical package'. They were particularly critical about the legislative proposal concerning the provision of information about prescription medicines to the general public. It is is widely felt that implementing this proposal would pave the way for the legalisation of direct-to-consumer-advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs in European Union (EU) member states.

Proponents of the package claim that this proposal contained within it will only allow pharmaceutical companies to provide 'reliable' information to consumers. Consumer organisations throughout Europe reject this notion, on the grounds that any information provided by a company about its products - apart from data approved by the appropriate authorities - can be considered to be marketing. DTCA is currently only legal in New Zealand and the USA.

The Danish Minister of Health declared his sympathy for these concerns and even read the letter out on national radio. Not long afterwards on 8 and 9 June 2009, the EU Council of Health Ministers expressed strong reservations about the proposal question, with many delegates fearing it would open the door to DTCA.

The proposal will continue to be debated by the Council and by the newly elected European Parliament in the Autumn. The European consumer movement will continue it's efforts to ensure that the interests of patients are respected, and that DTCA does not become a reality in the EU.