Drug Promotional Literature

Drug Promotional Literature

1. Definition & overview

• Drug promotion (WHO 1988 definition) = "all informational and persuasive activities by manufacturers and distributors, the effect of which is to induce the prescription, supply, purchase and/or use of medicinal drugs." This is the examiner-preferred one-line definition. (WHO Ethical Criteria 1988, WHA41.17) [WHO]
• Promotional product literature = graphic and/or written material prepared by/for one party, made available to the public for information and distribution, for the purpose of promoting or marketing a particular product or brand. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
• The commonest channels by which information flows from industry to the practising physician are verbal, written and computerised — e.g. professional meetings, journal advertising, e-mail, and the medical representative (MR). Large sums are spent on this "effective communication" to physicians. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
• Promotional literature serves a dual nature: it is genuinely a source of drug information (nature, class, pharmacological effects, side effects, interactions, contraindications) for prescribers, chemists and patients, yet it is fundamentally an advertising tool, not impartial education. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
• Distinguish three informational literature tiers from the promotional tier:
  • Primary literature — original research papers / clinical trial reports (most authoritative). (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
  • Secondary literature — indexing/abstracting databases that point to primary sources (e.g. MEDLINE/PubMed, Embase). (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
  • Tertiary literature — distilled, pre-digested sources (textbooks, formularies, review monographs, drug compendia such as MIMS/CIMS). (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
  • Promotional product literature — a form of advertising provided to clinicians/chemists/health professionals; informative and persuasive. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
• How promotional literature differs from conventional (mass-media) advertising (Medhi Ch.37, p.342):
  • More selective — distributed through controlled means rather than general media placement, so the target audience is sharply defined and the message is written with the targeted "consumer" (prescriber) in mind.
  • Initial readership ≈ 100% — when a defined consumer group is targeted, the message is tailored to a group already predisposed to it.
  • Direct movement into the objective — the recipient already has an established interest, so the literature can move straight to its persuasive goal.
• Direct-to-physician (DTP) marketing is the major clinical-setting technique: promotional literature based (ostensibly) on clinical research serves as a drug-information source and influences prescribing behaviour. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)
• The single most important quality of trustworthy promotional literature is the source of references — it should provide comprehensive, current updates drawn from leading national/international journals or international-organisation data (e.g. WHO). The reference trail is what separates evidence-based literature from mere advertising. (Medhi Ch.37, p.342)