Advertising
This article was originally published in SRA
Executive Summary
Egypt cracks down on advertisements for unregistered drugs
Egypt cracks down on advertisements for unregistered drugs
The Egyptian minister of health, Hatem El-Gabaly, has filed a complaint with the country's general prosecutor regarding the advertising of unregistered pharmaceutical products in newspapers and various other media (radio and television)1. In his complaint Professor El-Gabaly explained that these advertisements publicise unregistered pharmaceutical products with unproven medical claims and that these advertisements usually use sexually explicit material and improper language to attract patients. He also described the potential health hazards that these advertisements can cause, saying that the products in question (generally for the treatment of sexual disorders and weight control) might cause serious side effects and most probably would have none of the claimed medical benefits.
In response to this complaint, the general prosecutor has sent an official letter to the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists, the High Committee of Journalism, the Ministry of Information, the Ministry of Commerce and the Consumer Protection Regulatory Agency, which requires that all these bodies co-operate in preventing such advertisements and seek to enforce the Pharmacy Law (127/1955).This states that: when advertising a pharmaceutical product, the advertisement must contain claims that have been revised and approved by the Ministry of Health during the registration procedures of the product. The advertisement must be in ethical language and must not contain any material that might lure the public or be against common moral principles … any medical advertisement must first be approved by the Pharmaceutical High Technical Committee before being published in any Egyptian media.
Background
In the last few years many private newspapers have emerged in Egypt. The commercial business of unregistered “cocktails” and herbal products with unproven medical claims has also boomed recently. These products are mainly for the treatment of sexual disorders, such as impotence, and weight control. These newspapers, under the economic temptation of publishing various ads for unregistered pharmaceutical products, have overlooked the law regulating such advertisements. With the great increase in the number of these newspapers, monitoring every advertisement has become a challenge.
Although the government-sponsored newspapers (eg Al-Ahram newspaper) and television channels strictly enforce the Pharmacy Law, the general prosecutor is aiming to control the illegal ads that have appeared in the other media. In addition, Professor El-Gabaly has established a new committee led by Hamdi El-Sayed, the head of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate (representing physicians), and including the head of the Pharmacists' Syndicate, Zakaria Gad, to discuss possible ways of monitoring these ads and preventing them. Professor El-Gabaly has also published in the government-sponsored newspapers warnings to the public not to believe such ads and not to use any of the advertised products, especially those sold outside the officially registered pharmacies (eg by mail order).
GIHAN TAHA
References
1. Al-Ahram newspaper, 12 March 2007