An analytical survey of promotional drug literatures at C. U. Shah Medical College and Hospital, Surendranagar.
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Date
2015-03
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Abstract
Background: The research and marketing of a new drug requires a lot of money
by the pharmaceutical companies. Promotion through advertising brochures and
leafl ets is widely used to infl uence the physicians. Most of the times, this information
is the only source of new drug information for the physicians. Hence, this study to
analyze the appropriateness, accuracy, and validity of promotional drug literatures
was undertaken.
Methods: Promotional materials were collected from outpatient departments of C. U.
Shah Medical College and Hospital, Surendranagr. They were evaluated according
to the “WHO criteria, 1988,” and the references cited to support the claims were
checked for their validity and authenticity. The images and the pictorial content were
evaluated to fi nd out any biased nature of gender representation.
Results: Evaluation of the total 486 brochures showed that none of them fulfi lled all
the nine criteria. Of the 308 claims, only 208 (42.79%) gave references to support
the claims. Only 27 (39.13%) of the research articles among the 125 journal article
cited were of high methodological quality. Among the 218 human fi gures, 144 were
patients, and 103 were doctors. Female patients (62.5%) were depicted more than
male patients (37.5%).
Conclusion: The present study showed that pharmaceutical companies do not
strictly follow the WHO guidelines and majority of the research were sponsored by
companies. Hence, more stringent regulations need to be implemented for the proper
promotion and dissemination of information about the new drugs.
Description
Keywords
Promotional literatures, World Health Organization criteria, Drug promotion
Citation
Bhatt Preeti Narendra, Mehta Dimple S, Chhaiya Sunita B. An analytical survey of promotional drug literatures at C. U. Shah Medical College and Hospital, Surendranagar. International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology. 2015 Mar-Apr; 4(2): 325-329.