EVALUATION OF DRUG ADVERTISEMENTS IN A MEDICAL JOURNALThough ideally the scientific information provided by pharmaceutical companies in drug advertisements should be for promotion of rational use of drugs, this objective is rarely achieved, as often the d

Abstract

Though ideally the scientific information provided by pharmaceutical companies in
drug advertisements should be for promotion of rational use of drugs, this objective is
rarely achieved, as often the data is incomplete and biased. Analytical studies with
the help of standard indicators on this aspect of drug advertisements are very few
from developing countries. We analyzed all medical drug advertisements in eleven
consecutive issues of Journal of Nepal Medical Association published between 1993
and 1996 with a special emphasis on their conformity with WHO guidelines and
International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA) code
for drug advertisement.
The 78 advertisements in the Journal of Nepal Medical Association constituted 7.7%
pages of the eleven issues. Of the 38 products advertised, 30 (79%) were manufactured
outside Nepal. Antimicrobial agents were the most frequently advertised group of
drugs (47.4%). While generic name was not mentioned in 16.7% of the advertisements,
the information on indications, adverse effects and contra-indications was lacking in
37%, 88.4% and 87.1% of the advertisements respectively. Only 11.5% of
advertisements provided information on generic name, indications, dosage, adverse
effects and contra indications. However, none of the advertisement was "complete"
on the basis of the indicators of WHO guidelines and IFPMA codes.
Key Words: Medical drug advertisement, drug information, WHO guidelines, IFPMA code.