Misleading advertising for antidepressants in Sweden: a failure of pharmaceutical industry self-regulation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The alleged efficacy of pharmaceutical industry self-regulation has been used to repudiate increased government oversight over promotional activity. European politicians and industry have cited Sweden as an excellent example of self-regulation based on an ethical code. This paper considers antidepressant advertising in Sweden to uncover the strengths and weaknesses of self-regulation.

Methodology

We analyzed all antidepressant advertisements in the Swedish Medical Journal, 1994-2003. The regulation of these advertisements was analyzed using case reports from self-regulatory bodies. The authors independently reviewed this material to investigate: (1) extent of violative advertising; (2) pattern of code breaches; (3) rate at which the system reacted to violative adv

SUBMITTER: Zetterqvist AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3641086 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature