Direct to consumer marketing: Switch to over the counter can become indirect advertising directly to consumers

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7496.906-a

BMJ 2005;330:906 (16 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7496.906-a

Letter

Direct to consumer marketing

Switch to over the counter can become indirect advertising directly to consumers

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Mansfield et al raise concerns about how advertisingdirectly to consumers may cause inappropriate pressures to usedrugs and may exaggerate benefits while minimising risk information.¹They state that the purpose of advertising is to persuade ratherthan inform. The same edition of the BMJ contained a reviewof switching prescription drugs to over the counter.² Can thisswitch enable consumer advertising?

Simvastatin 10 mg (Zocor Heart-Pro) is supplied over the counterto reduce the risk of a first coronary event in people who areat 10-15% risk of coronary heart disease over the next 10 years.People like this would not normally be treated with statins,after a formal risk assessment in the NHS.³ There is no directevidence that simvastatin 10 mg daily works here; no trialsexist of statins sold over the counter, no data on adherenceto therapy, and no knowledge on the safety . . . [Full text of this article]

Martin Duerden, general practitioner

Meddygfa Gyffin, Conwy LL32 8LT martin@theduerdens.co.uk

Tom Walley, professor of clinical pharmacology

Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GF twalley@liverpool.ac.uk

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