Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
May 11, 2010

If you’re a doctor, the FDA wants your help in identifying ‘bad’ advertisements for prescription drugs. Seriously. The agency is calling it’s new ‘Bad Ad’ program an educational outreach effort and, not surprisingly, it’s being run by DDMAC, the agency’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications, which issues all those warning letters and violations.

The goal of the program is to “help health care providers recognize misleading prescription drug promotion and provide them with an easy way to report this activity to the agency,” DDMAC director Tom Abrams says in a statement. Usually, the FDA finds ‘bad ads’ by reviewing promotional materials submitted for agency review, fielding complaints (often one company sniping at another) and scouring medical conventions. But Abrams acknowledges the FDA has limited ability to monitor promotional activities that occur “in private.”

Read entire article:  http://www.pharmalot.com/2010/05/fda-to-docs-tell-us-about-bad-drug-ads/