AMA will ask its members to support government DTC moratorium

AMA will ask its members to support government DTC moratorium  

The American Medical Association (AMA) will reverse it prior decision and ask its members to back government restrictions on DTC advertising, reports the Chicago Tribune. Last year, the AMA did not back a moratorium on advertising new drugs and instead asked for more research. This year, however, the research is complete and suggests that AMA delegates should support a "time interval" between when a drug receives FDA approval and when consumer advertising can begin. The 17-page report says DTC ads for newly approved drugs should not begin until "physicians have been appropriately educated" about them and that the length of the moratorium will vary. Although PhRMA opposes a government moratorium, the group's new DTC guidelines call for companies to voluntarily hold off on DTC ads until doctors are educated.