FDA Says 'Less Is More' When It Comes to Drug Ads

By: Jennifer Saba The Food and Drug Administration explained draft guidelines on direct-to-consumer print advertising to a group of health, drug, media and advertising companies, gathered at a symposium this morning in New York sponsored by Parade magazine.

The guidelines are essentially works in progress and for the next 90 days advertisers, pharmaceutical companies and anyone else can comment on the proposed rules at the FDA's Web site. "There's a tension between regulators and those who are regulated," said Peter Pitts, associate commissioner for external relations at the FDA. "We want to create a collegial atmosphere so we can work together."

The symposium comes on the heels of last week's FDA proposal requiring drug companies to overhaul advertising aimed at consumers often faulted for being unwieldy. The FDA plans to put directives in place that will streamline ads that employ so much copy they would make Tolstoy wary.

Summaries which detail the risks, benefits and other drug information, tally 2,300 words on average, for example. And in order to cram in all that information, most ads use a font size smaller than that used in classified ads. If a reader does choose to tackle the ad -- and according to the FDA, 45% of people will read the brief summary when interested in the drug -- it's often written in confusing language.

As a result, the theme of the symposium was "less is more" with the FDA stressing ads using consumer-friendly language designed in an easy-to-read format. Just how brief is too brief, however, was at the center of debate as several versions of mock ads were laid out to the group. If today's symposium was any indication, it's a discussion, if not a heated one, that will no doubt continue through the next three months.

The Newspaper Association of America is supporting the proposed guidelines, which were drafted in response to criticism of the FDA by Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Government Reform. He has accused the FDA of being slow to respond to misleading ads.

Waxman said last week in a statement that the FDA "misses the crux of the problem which is the FDA's abysmal failure to take strong action against false or misleading claims ... Today guidelines don't even address the proliferation of misleading television ads."

The NAA welcomes the new guidelines however. "Allowing important health information to be communicated in a user-friendly manner, as the FDA has proposed, will greatly benefit consumers who get their news and information from newspapers," said NAA President and CEO John F. Strum.