- PDF Version (148K) - Print Friendly - Help

AgVetLink: Number 51, August 2005

Advertising veterinary medicines

No advertising PAR antibiotic products to end users

The ACVM Group is in the process of changing the conditions of registration for certain prescription animal remedy veterinary medicines (PARs) to prohibit advertising and promotion directly to end users. At this stage, only PAR antibiotic products will have the prohibition applied.

The Group considers that such advertising jeopardises the risk management role of the prescribing veterinarian due to the pressure to supply products that the veterinarian considers inappropriate under the circumstances.

End users are considered to be those persons who own or are responsible for the animals to be treated and are likely to administer (or arrange for the administration) the product to the animals. It does not include veterinarians or approved traders of PAR products. Advertising to veterinarians and approved traders will not be restricted by the new conditions.

Registrants of antibiotic products have been advised that the registrations of their products are to be reviewed and the conditions on registration changed to include the prohibition on advertising or promotion to end users.

What constitutes advertising?

Some registrants have asked for clarification about the distinction between advertising and information transfer (editorials) about disease conditions and treatment alternatives, particularly when the articles are not commissioned by the registrant or trader.

The ACVM Group uses a simple definition for advertising – it is any kind of communication that is intended to promote the sale of a particular trade name product. It recognises that any communication about disease conditions or treatment alternatives may result in increased sales for a particular product. This means that the intent, content and context are all important in distinguishing between advertising and information transfer. While the boundary is not (and will never be) black and white, most readers in the majority of cases can tell the difference.

Nevertheless, individuals and companies constantly test the boundary and a large portion of the ACVM Group’s compliance activity is taken up with arguments about whether or not a particular communication has overstepped the boundary.

The ACVM Group uses the following rule in making judgements:

If, because of the context, content (text and or graphics), layout, association with other material, or any other factor, the reader would interpret the communication as a prompt to choose or buy a particular trade name product, then the communication is an advertisement or promotion.

Whether or not the communication was directly paid for by the registrant or trader is not particularly relevant because other kinds of arrangements, agreements or considerations could be involved, none of which would be known to the ACVM Group.  So the Group makes its judgement on the basis of what it sees and how the communication is likely to be seen by others.

Industry code of good advertising practice

While the ACVM Group tries to be consistent, sometimes it is difficult to judge whether or not a particular communication is advertising, given the endless ways in which the material can be presented. To assist the Group in this difficult area, the veterinary pharmaceutical industry and the veterinary profession have joined forces to develop a code of practice for advertising veterinary medicines. In addition, they are developing a forum in which appointed representatives of the industry as a group will be able to examine a particular communication and advise whether or not it complies with the code of practice.

The ACVM Group applauds this industry initiative and is looking forward to a time in the near future when its judgement on individual cases that are borderline will have the benefit of an industry-wide perspective on whether it is or is not acceptable advertising practice.