The Food and Drug Administration is seeking public comment on its investigation of the impact of communicating risks in direct-to-consumer prescription drug television advertisements.  Readers know of the importance of the DTC context in drug litigation.

The notice announcing the comment period notes that prescription drug advertising regulations (21 CFR 202.1) require that broadcast (TV or radio) advertisements present the product’s major risks in either audio or audio and visual parts of the advertisement; this is often called the “major statement.” There is concern that as currently implemented in DTC ads, the major statement is often too long, which may result in reduced consumer comprehension, minimization of important risk information and, potentially, therapeutic noncompliance due to fear of side effects. Not all agree; one possible resolution is to limit the risks in the major statement to those that are serious and actionable, and include a disclosure to alert consumers that there are other product risks not included in the ad. For example, the disclosure could be, “This is not a full list of risks and side effects. Talk to your doctor and read the patient labeling for [drug name] before starting it.”

The Office of Prescription Drug Promotion  plans to investigate the effectiveness of this “limited risks plus disclosure” strategy through empirical research, with the hypothesis that, relative to inclusion of the full major statement, providing limited risk information along with the disclosure about additional risks will promote improved consumer perception and understanding of serious and actionable drug risks.

The FDA invites comments by 4/21 on:

• whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the FDA’s functions;
•the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
• ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected.

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