Ethical Issues in Medicines Marketing and Promotion – PST05105 Rational Use of Medicines
NTA Level 5 • Semester 1 • PST05105 Ethical Issues in Medicines Marketing and Promotion Rational Use of Medicines • Source Session/Topic 14 Full source-text version: all educational wording from the extracted learning source is retained; only presenter/tutor metadata and web-layout noise are removed, while formatting is improved for readability. Session 14: Ethical Issues in Medicines Marketing and Promotion Total Session Time: 120 minutes Prerequisites • None Learning Tasks By the end of this session students are expected to be able to: • Give introduction of ethical issues in medicines marketing and promotion • List objectives of ethical issues in medicines marketing and promotion • Identify ethical issues in medicines marketing and promotion • Identify ethical issues in medicines marketing and advertisement Resources Needed: • Flip charts, marker pens, and masking tape • Black/white board and chalk/whiteboard markers SESSION OVERVIEW |Step |Time |Activity/ |Content | | | |Method | | |1 |5 Minutes |Presentation |Introduction, Learning Tasks | |2 |25 Minutes |Presentation |Introduction to Ethical Issues in | | | | |Medicines Marketing And Promotion | |3 |25 Minutes |Presentation |Objective of Ethical Criteria in | | | | |Medicines Marketing and Promotion | |4 |30 Minutes |Presentation |Ethical Issues in Medicines | | | |Buzzing |Marketing and Promotion | |5 |25 Minutes |Presentation |Ethical Issues in Medicines | | | | |Marketing and advertisement | |6 |05 Minutes |Presentation |Key Points | | 7 |05 Minutes |Presentation |Evaluation | SESSION CONTENTS STEP 1: Presentation of Session Title and Learning Tasks (05 Minutes) READ or ASK students to read the learning objectives and clarify ASK students if they have any questions before continuing. STEP 2: Introduction to Ethical Criteria in Medicines Marketing and Promotion (25 minutes) • Ethical issues for drug promotion should lay the foundation for proper behaviour concerning the promotion of medicinal drugs, consistent with the search for truthfulness and righteousness. • The criteria should thus assist in judging if promotional practices related to medicinal drugs are in keeping with acceptable ethical standards. • WHO ethical criteria for medicinal drug promotion of 1988 require promotion of prescription and over-the-counter drugs to contain reliable claims without misleading or unverifiable statements. • The ethical promotion of medicine is vital to the pharmaceutical industry’s mission of helping patients for better healthcare. • The pharmaceutical industry has an obligation and responsibility to provide accurate information about its products to healthcare professionals in order to establish a clear understanding of the appropriate use of medicines. • The criteria could be used by people in all walks of life; by governments; the pharmaceutical industry (manufacturers and distributors); the promotion industry (advertising agencies, market research organizations and the like)health personnel involved in the prescription, dispensing, supply and distribution of drugs; universities and other teaching institutions; professional associations; patients' and consumer groups. • There is evidence that drug utilization problems are increasing encountered in many developing countries due to unethical practices of medicine promotion. STEP 3: Objective of Ethical Criteria in Medicines marketing and Promotion (25 Minutes) The following are the objectives of ethical criteria for medicines marketing and promotion: • To support and encourage the improvement of health care through the rational use of medicinal drugs and discourage unethical practices. • To lay the foundation for proper behavior concerning the promotion of medicinal drugs, consistent with the search for truthfulness and righteousness. • To assist in judging if promotional practices related to medicinal drugs are in keeping with acceptable ethical standards. • To ensure that healthcare professionals have access to information they need and that medicines are prescribed and used in a manner that provides the maximum healthcare benefit to patients. STEP 4: Ethical Issues in Medicines Marketing and Promotion (30 minutes) |Activity: Buzzing (10 minutes) | |ASK students to pair up and buzz on the following question for 2 | |minutes | |What are the ethical criteria in medicines marketing and promotion? | |ALLOW few pairs to respond and let other pairs to add on points not | |mentioned | |WRITE their response on the flip chart/board | | | |CLARIFY and SUMMARIZE by using the content below | The following are the ethical criteria in medicines marketing and promotion • Healthcare professionals should not be influenced to prescribe, recommend, purchase, supply or administer a product because of any benefits offered (financial or otherwise). • Promotion should encourage the appropriate use of pharmaceutical products by presenting them objectively and without exaggeration. • Ethical criteria for Medicines marketing and Promotion call for promotion of prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs (over-the-counter drugs), traditional medicines and any other product promoted as a medicine to contain reliable claims without misleading statements. • The criteria also state that promotion should not contain omissions that could lead to health risks • The criteria state that promotion should not contain unverifiable statements or omissions likely to induce medically unjustifiable drug use or to give rise to undue risks. • They emphasize that promotion should not be disguised as educational or scientific activities. • Active promotion within a country should take place only with respect to drugs legally available in the country. • Promotion should be in keeping with national health policies and in compliance with national regulations. • All promotion making claims concerning medicinal drugs should be reliable, accurate, truthful, informative, balanced, up-to-date, and capable of substantiation and in good taste. • The word "safe" should only be used if properly qualified. Comparison of products should be factual, fair and capable of substantiation. • Promotional material should not be designed so as to disguise its real nature. • Scientific data in the public domain should be made available to prescribers and any other person entitled to receive it, on request, as appropriate to their requirements. • Promotion in the form of financial or material benefits should not be offered to or sought by health care practitioners to influence them in the prescription of drugs. • Scientific and educational activities should not be deliberately used for promotional purposes STEP 5: Ethical Issues