[Advertising of drugs: risk or benefits?]

One more case of the double standard: discrepancies between drug information provided to Brazilian and American physicians

Several factors have been identified as exerting influences upon the physician prescribing behaviour. Some studies on this issue emphasize the role played by the sources of information available to physicians. A number of reports have been published on the influence of marketing strategies upon these professionals. Such strategies include advertisements in medical journals, detail-men, free samples, distribution of folders, leaflets and gifts, as well as support to congresses and symposia. The impact of the 'special' relationships that manufacturers cultivate with health authorities and physicians and considered opinion-makers should also not be underestimated. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of information provided by a widely-used Brazilian prescribing guide, the Dicionário de Especialidades Farmacêuticas(DEF) on the 44 best-selling pharmaceutical products in Brazil. WHO criteria for drug information were used as parameters of which information is of such outstanding importance that it should be included in any informative material offered to physicians. The information in the DEF was compared with that available for the same products in the PDR (Physicians' Desk Reference) and USP-DI (Drug Information for the Health Care Professional) used by prescribers in USA. Results show the absence of important data from the Brazilian manual, including contraindications, adverse effects and drug interactions. These findings suggest that poor quality information may potentially contribute to the irrational use of drugs. Copyright (c) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.