Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 articles
    • Obituary notices
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Physicians & Subscribers
    • Benefits for Canadian physicians
    • CPD Credits for CMA Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription prices
    • Obituary notices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
    • Avis de décès
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News

Oversight of opioid advertising in Canada remains lax despite new federal guidance

Paul Webster
CMAJ June 11, 2018 190 (23) E730-E731; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-5612
Paul Webster
Toronto, Ont.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Years after drug advertising reviewers warned the federal government about lax controls over the promotion of prescription opioids, Health Canada issued a guidance to manufacturers indicating their ads may be subject to tougher scrutiny.

Meanwhile, some drug companies continue to promote prescription opioids with little or no review of whether their marketing claims downplay risks, according to Ray Chepesiuk, commissioner of the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board, which reviews ads in collaboration with Health Canada.

“There’s the potential that a great amount of prescription opioid advertising material is not being reviewed,” said Chepesiuk.

According to Chepesiuk, the only companies currently required to submit drug advertising claims for review are members of Innovative Medicines Canada, an industry association that represents brand-name companies. But not all of Canada’s drug companies are members of the industry association, Chepesiuk noted.

The advisory board, which charges fees to drug companies to review advertising materials, describes itself as “the only regulator whose preclearance service is recognized by Health Canada for advertising directed to health care professionals.” It has long advocated for mandatory review of all opioid advertising in discussions with Health Canada, said Chepesiuk. “But it’s up to Health Canada to drive this.”

In email statements, Eric Morrissette, chief of media relations for Health Canada, said the department has issued a guidance that gives the government authority, on a case-by-case basis, to require manufacturers to submit their advertising for review by an advertising preclearance agency recognized by Health Canada, such as the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board.

The call for a larger mandate for the advertising advisory board was met with skepticism by Dr. Joel Lexchin, a drug-policy researcher at the University of Toronto. According to Lexchin, there are serious weaknesses in the board’s current approach, including a lack of requirement for equal space for harms and benefits in drug advertising.

Figure

Drug companies continue to promote prescription opioids with little or no review of whether their marketing claims downplay risks, according to the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board.

Image courtesy of mladenbalinovac/iStock

The advisory board “approves ads that are clearly misleading, in my view,” he said. Lexchin would like to see the board replaced by an entity entirely independent from industry that would conduct “independent, rigorous reviews of all forms of drug marketing.”

Dr. Andrew Boozary, a University of Toronto internist who helped Lexchin launch Open Pharma, a group that advocates for independent review of drug advertising and full disclosure of corporate payments to health care professionals, said not enough is known about marketing tactics or payments to professionals.

“The opioid catastrophe vividly underlines our need for full transparency about payments to health care professionals and organizations,” said Boozary.

Innovation Medicine Canada’s code of conduct stipulates that members must ensure payments to professionals and organizations are “not undertaken for product promotional reasons” and “that there are no incentives to prescribe, recommend, purchase, supply or administer a product based on financial support.”

The association “does not audit member companies to ensure compliance with the code,” said Pamela Fralick, the group’s president. “Stakeholders may also file complaints with Innovative Medicines Canada if they believe that a member-company is breaching the code.”

Footnotes

  • Posted on cmajnews.com on May 24, 2018.

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 190 (23)
CMAJ
Vol. 190, Issue 23
11 Jun 2018
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Oversight of opioid advertising in Canada remains lax despite new federal guidance
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Oversight of opioid advertising in Canada remains lax despite new federal guidance
Paul Webster
CMAJ Jun 2018, 190 (23) E730-E731; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5612

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Oversight of opioid advertising in Canada remains lax despite new federal guidance
Paul Webster
CMAJ Jun 2018, 190 (23) E730-E731; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-5612
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
  • Figures & Tables
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Saying goodbye to CMAJ News
  • National survey highlights worsening primary care access
  • How Canadian hospitals are decreasing carbon emissions
Show more News

Similar Articles

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

CMA Civility, Accessibility, Privacy

 

Powered by HighWire