On 9 July, 2015, the State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the
People's Republic of China (SAIC) issued the Standards for the Examination
and Publication of Drug Advertisements (Exposure draft) on its website. The
SAIC solicits opinions and suggestions from the society for the standards
before 1 Aug., 2015. The standards will come into force on 1 Sept., 2015, while
the original standard issued in March 2007 shall be repealed simultaneously.
The standard is regarded as the most strict drug advertisement standard
historically. Compared with the old one, there is no fundamental change, but
some articles are more meticulous and clear, which may help the government to
strengthen the supervision of domestic pharmaceutical market and make it more
clearly in responsibilities and rights while dealing with practical issues.
The following new or changed articles in the Standards for the Examination
and Publication of Drug Advertisements (Exposure draft) are worth
concerning:
-
Such contents as
contraindication and adverse reactions shall be obviously indicated in
drug ads
-
Non-Prescription Drugs ads
shall not promote pharmacological effects
-
Spokespersons shall not be
used for recommendation and certification in drug ads
-
Drug ads shall not, by way of
publishing the effects of some ingredients or exaggerating the efficacy of
the drugs except for what is in the instructions, mislead consumers
-
Drug ads in such forms or
disguised forms as news report and medical information service programs or
in the name of knowledge introduction on health and regimen are prohibited
-
Such contents as improving
and enhancing functions in drug adds shall not be published on the front
page of newspapers and periodical covers
-
Drug ads shall not take
minors as objects, and shall not introduce drugs in the name of minors
(Note: "Minors" refer to "children" in the original
standards.)
“New standard aims at cleaning up the market, because illegal drug adds are
quite a lot in recent years”, a director of China Non-Prescription Medicines
Association revealed. For the public, the new standard help to regulate the
behavior of publishing large numbers of false advertisements and cheating
consumer by drug enterprises to expand sales, and it is beneficial for the
pharmaceutical industry improving the quality.
The new standard is still seeking for advice, so content change is inevitable.
The behind reason is that the domestic pharmaceutical industry relies too much
on advertising. According to a report by Southern Metropolis Daily, some drug
enterprises think that parts of articles in the Standards for the Examination
and Publication of Drug Advertisements (Exposure draft) are too stringent,
so they give their feedback to the relevant departments positively.
Apart from the Standards for the Examination and Publication of Drug
Advertisements (Exposure draft), the SAIC also issued the Measures for
the Administration of Medical Advertisements (Exposure draft) and the Criterions
for the Examination and Publication of Medical Apparatus Advertisements
(Exposure draft). The three standards are supporting regulations of the new Advertisement Law, which was passed by voting in the 14th session of the
12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on 24
April 2015 and will be formally implemented on 1 Sept., 2015.
The introduction and implementation of a series of policies may have a profound
impact on health-care and pharmaceutical industries in the future: forcing the
transformation of marketing mode in health-care and pharmaceutical industries,
regulating the competition between enterprises and safeguarding the legal
rights and interests of consumers.