Only 6% of drug advertising material is supported by evidence

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BMJ 2004;328:485 (28 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7438.485-a

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Only 6% of drug advertising material is supported by evidence Annette Tuffs

Heidelberg

A new study of the advertising material and marketing brochures sent out by drug

companies to GPs in Germany has shown that about 94% of the information in them

has no basis in scientific evidence.

The study, carried out by the Institute for Evidence-Based Medicine, a private

independent research institute in Cologne, evaluated 175 brochures containing

information on 520 drugs, which were either sent by post or handed out to 43 GPs

since last June. The study was published in this month's issue of the drugs

bulletin Arznei Telegramm ( 2004;35: 21-3; www.di-em.de/data/at_2004_35_21.pdf).

About 15% of the brochures did not contain any citations, while the citations

listed in another 22% could not be found. In the remaining 63% the information

was mostly correctly connected with the relevant research articles but did not

reflect their results. Only 6% of the brochures contained statements that were

scientifically supported by identifiable literature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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