Recently in Legislation Category

NEW YORK - (BUSINESS WIRE) - According to Prevention Magazine's 13th annual national survey Consumer Reaction to DTC Advertising of Prescription Drugs, consumers are paying attention to the FDA regulated "fair balance" mandate between risk and benefit information on all DTC ads; the majority believe pharmaceutical advertising in magazines and television is presented "both fair and balanced." Conducted by Prevention, Men's Health and Women's Health magazines, published by Rodale Inc., with technical assistance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communication (FDA-DDMAC), the survey is one of the primary consumer studies informing the FDA's stance on DTC issues.

For five consecutive years in a row, consumers reported consistent balance of awareness and attention paid to both risks and benefits in TV and magazine ads.

From Tom Sullivan's Policy and Medicine blog, July 16, 2010:
As drug companies "prepare for new draconian provisions for reporting on financial relationships with academia," a recent article in Nature Biotechnology investigated whether such efforts to "increase transparency will prove burdensome to researchers and the industry.

The inquiry stems from "the latest fallout from Senator Charles Grassley's (R-IA) campaign for increased transparency between physician researchers and industry." This campaign has included numerous letters and investigations involving doctors, organizations and associations, agencies (e.g. NIH), medical journals, and drug and device companies.

Read entire article, then come back here to comment.

Click to read...

Tom Sullivan has created a great summary of healthcare reform's effects on the healthcare communication industry. Click to read.

A study by the Cleveland Clinic's Center for Continuing Education showed that there was no correlation between the perception of bias and the commercial support status of an activity such as continuing medical education.

The Coalition and Med Ad News are collaborating on a series of podcasts by John Kamp, Coalition Executive Director, on topics vital to the healthcare communication industry.  The fourth podcast, "Approach with Caution" is now available for download. In this segment Mr. Kamp talks about social media why legal departments will continue to voice strong resistance to going too far, while he also acknowledges the great opportunity social media hold in improving the industry relationship and reputation with consumers.
All four podcasts can be downloaded here: http://downloads.pharmalive.com/

View details here.

You can visit Pharma Live's Med Ad News Web site to download two podcasts on healthcare issues by John Kamp, the Coalition's Executive Director.

The first is on the defeated but still looming ad tax bill.  The second is an overview and analysis of the "New FDA".

You can download them here: http://downloads.pharmalive.com/

Med Ad News plans to present three more podcasts in this series.

The February issue of MM&M magazine spotlights Policymed.com blogger Tom Sullivan.
Read the article here:sullivan_mmandm_feb1_10.pdf

Your comments are encouraged.

Interesting discussion on why corporate backing of medical research is NOT a bad thing:

Corporate Backing for Research? Get Over It!
John Tierney in the New York Times, Jan. 25, 2010

Hyperscrutiny of Academic-Industrial Relationships: Potential for Unintended Consequences
Tom Sullivan's Policy and Medicine Blog, Jan. 27, 2010

More thoughts on the issue on Tom Sullivan's Policy and Medicine Blog

Read about it and join the discussion here.