Practice advisory - Participation of neurologists in direct-to-consumer advertising

Increasingly, prescription pharmaceuticals and medical devices are being advertised directly to patients. This direct-to-consumer advertising (DCA)—the “ask-your-doctor” approach—may be conducted through print media, television, audiotapes, and videotapes. DCA serves two purposes: it informs patients about a product and it attempts to persuade them that one company’s product is superior to that of its competitors. Although DCA may be regarded as educational when it serves an informational purpose (for example, teaching patients with chronic illness how to obtain assistance from a company’s support services), it is also a marketing tool designed to create a favorable attitude toward the company and its products. Neurologists may be solicited by pharmaceutical or medical device companies to participate in DCA. We hope that neurologists who consider doing so will benefit from the considerations and recommendations presented here. We base this Practice Advisory on the following tenets: 1) Patient education materials produced by pharmaceutical and medical device companies may provide useful information but also serve the purpose of advertising and should therefore be regarded as DCA. 2) Mass marketing through DCA may promote a drug or device to an individual for whom it is unsuitable. 3) Participation in DCA may have an unfavorable effect on a …