Position Paper on Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) of Prescription Medications; Declaration de Principes sur la Publicite Destinee Directement aux Consommateurs (PDDC) en Matiere de Medicaments de Prescription

The Canadian Treatment Advocates Council (CTAC) is a national not-for-profit organization that focuses on HIV/AIDS treatment advocacy. The bi-lingual position paper deals with proposed changes to the Regulations that govern the advertising of prescription drugs. The paper briefly considers: the scientific evidence on the effects of Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) on doctor's prescribing patterns, health outcomes, levels of consumer information, the economic evidence regarding costs to the health care system, the impact of DTCA on doctor/patient relations, the pharmaceutical industry's record on DTCA, the effectiveness of the current regulatory system, and alternative ways to provide information about prescription medications. The CTAC does not support any changes to the existing Regulations and is strongly opposed to DTCA for medications used to treat HIV/AIDS related conditions.