Significant proposed changes to pharmaceutical advertising are
included in the 'health pack' currently being considered in
Parliament.
Characteristics of medicinal products
Making the characteristics of medicinal products available will no
longer be expressly excluded from the scope of advertising, as the
exemption is not provided for under EU law. This may lead to a
large number of administrative decisions prohibiting the
publication of medicinal product characteristics on, for instance,
corporate websites, if used for marketing purposes.
Competitions for doctors and pharmaceutical professionals
The changes will expressly permit promotions addressed at
professionals, including competitions, prize draws and other
activities whose outcomes depend on chance. This may lead to
competitions involving prizes other than ordinary gadgets.
Currently, the only competitions permitted by the Chief
Pharmaceutical Inspector are those with prizes consisting of
ordinary gadgets relating to medical or pharmaceutical practice
with a value of no more than PLN 100.
Threatening advertisements
The new provisions will prohibit advertisements using
inappropriate, threatening or misleading statements about
therapeutic recommendations, although it is unclear what this adds
to the current prohibition of misleading advertising (given the
many wide-ranging decisions on this subject by the Chief
Pharmaceutical Inspector).
Vaccinations
There is a change to the exclusion of protective vaccinations from
the ban on advertising, although the drafting does not make it
clear whether public promotions of Rx medicinal products that are
vaccinations will be permissible (although it should be noted that
the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector did indicate in one of his
decisions that it was).
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 29/10/2010.