Agnieszka Zimmermann, Leszek Pawłowski, Rafał Zimmermann
Reklama produktów leczniczych
2009-09-15
Advertising of medicinal products. The article describes the rules of advertising of medicinal products. Both the Community regulations contained in 2001/83/WE directive as well as the national law regulations have been analysed. The Polish act Pharmaceutical Law as well as the executive regulation issued on its basis being an example of the Europeisation of the Polish legal system, which is under the immediate influence of EU solutions.Advertising of medicinal products is subject to legal restrictions whose aim is to guarantee access to reliable knowledge on the effectiveness of various methods of treatment as well as to eliminate abuses, which might have a negative impact upon public health. Promotion of a drug addressed to the community, even if it concerns over-the-counter drugs only, may have a negative impact on the citizens health when misused or improperly prepared. Therefore, public advertising of medicinal products should fulfil conditions which guarantee the neutrality, veracity and objectivity of the content presented. Advertising of medicinal products addressed to the people authorised to prescribe them, i.e. doctors, or the people engaged in their delivery, i.e. pharmacists, contributes to the totality of the information available to such people. Advertising of this kind is subject to legal regulation whose aim is to prevent yielding to the negative impacts of promotion of drugs. Imposing bans in advertising arises, above all, from the belief that the lack of advertising of certain products will result in a reduction of their consumption. It is important both in the case of full-pay products as well as the reimbursable drugs.
Keywords: medicinal product, drug advertising, legislation.