DTC (direct to customer) advertising has the potential to make millions of lives easier by relaying information about breakthrough drugs that can help to better the quality of life for so many around the world. Unfortunately however, as of late, many of these campaigns have come under fire for misleading consumers when it comes to side effects and the effectiveness of some of these medications. For example, in a poll of 737 hip and knee surgeons, 77% of those polled believe that DTC ads mislead patients by exaggerating the benefits and downplaying the costs of treatment. Although many of these DTC ads should be doing a positive thing by keeping the public informed of updated practices, they often times are used to undermine or second guess a doctors’ opinion, yet the patient is not aware of how tried and true these methods are. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives made an effort to change all of that.

On Wednesday September 19, the House took a number of steps to improve the safety of the public by increasing the amount of funding for the Food and Drug Administration. The bill, passed by the House in a 405-7 vote, is being called the most significant drug safety legislation in 40 years. The Senate is expected to pass the bill as early as today and it is anticipated that President Bush will then sign it. The bill renews two programs for five years and provides the additional funding to be used for more thorough testing of drugs after they have hit the market, and also to update labels on medication with additional warnings. The fees paid by drug makers to the FDA were $305.5 million last year and as a result of this, will increase to $417.8 million this year.

This additional funding will allow the FDA to work with advertisers and the medication manufacturers to create a safer environment for all. This will be especially emphasized within the advertising world, as the bill also gives the FDA authority to fine advertisers up to $250,000 a day for continuing to run ads that have been deemed misleading, and then $500,000 a day for the second time it occurs within three years. The bill did leave out any mention of ad curbs, which would prevent marketing new drugs for the first two to three years once they are on the market. This in itself was a victory for the industry as it could have tremendously impacted the $4.5 billion dollars spent on these DTC ads each year.

Despite the fact that ad curbs did not make it into the bill, the bill itself is still a huge victory for everyone, not just the advertising industry. The FDA now has the power to more carefully regulate medication dispersed throughout the world and if they are more careful with performing after market testing of drugs, they can then change the labels and fewer ads will be deemed misleading. The problem of these misleading ads do not rest on the industry, nor should they solely rest on the manufacturers, the FDA needs to make a stand to protect the public and on Wednesday they did just that.