Communicating health information to Canadian consumers
Eileen McMahon explains what is and isn't legal to say to the general public (450 words, 2.5 min)
NPC Healthbiz Weekly is presented to you in cooperation with Peak Pharma Solutions
As the world of healthcare evolves and changes, so too does the way we share and receive health information. The pandemic has prompted a wave of “armchair expertise” on disease and has driven the general public to seek out health information at an unprecedented rate.
Direct communication seems like the obvious strategy for keeping up with the demand for easy-to-understand information about specific drugs and therapies—but in Canada, it’s not that straightforward, according to Eileen McMahon, the chair of Torys LLP’s Intellectual Property and Food and Drug Regulatory Practices.
McMahon (photo below) put it succinctly during the NPC Spring Webinar: “in Canada, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs has been prohibited since 1955.”
Pharma companies can still communicate with the general public, of course, and McMahon explained that since 1978, an exception to the regulations allows advertisement of a drug’s “name, price, and quantity.”
Regulatory limitations push marketers to work more creatively to reach our audiences. “For example, I could name a drug and provide a humorous caption around that particular drug,” McMahon said. It would also be legal to “communicate information about disease state without reference to a particular drug.”
Health Canada provides further guidance on the distinction between advertising and other activities. Some communications, such as press releases, can include additional information, since they’re considered non-promotional and aren’t regarded as advertisements.
The various forms of communication and loopholes involved in DTC advertising make it a highly charged issue in Canada, with various stakeholders—consumers, physicians, manufacturers, and the government—holding different and often divisive opinions.
McMahon noted that the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), for example, regularly revisits their position on the issue. The CMA’s most recent statement, dated February 2020, emphasized their opinion that available information about drugs should be balanced. While they oppose direct-to-consumer advertisement in general, they express a need for communications that provide “objective, evidence-based, reliable plain-language information for the public about prescription drugs."
Common objections to DTC advertising cite the implicit bias of “marketing” communications and concerns that it might “strain the relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider” or “drive up the cost” of healthcare, McMahon explained.
Despite this criticism, the restrictions in place ultimately only apply to prescription drugs, and not necessarily to OTC products, medical devices, or other non-prescription health products.
“Vaccines can be advertised to consumers,” McMahon clarified. “They’re not prescription drugs, and that’s why you will see advertisements and communications to consumers around vaccines.”
Legal or not, advertising is often at its most controversial when it concerns healthcare. Last week, an Australian ad encouraging vaccination (TW: graphic) drew international criticism for specifically targeting younger people—the majority of whom aren’t yet eligible for the jab.
Want to know more about the limitations (and opportunities) of Canadian DTC advertising? Check out DTC Academy for a crash course from industry experts.
WEEK 07/20/21
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CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee's view, they stand for a representative cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. Each week, NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honouree.
2017 Inductee
Stuart Cottrelle
President, Bayshore HealthCare Ltd.
Mississauga, Ont.
Phil Diamond Award for Community Service
Stuart Cottrelle has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry. In 1993, after identifying a need for improved home care in Canada, Cottrelle started Bayshore HealthCare Ltd. Bayshore is now Canada’s largest provider of home and community healthcare services.
Bayshore HealthCare created the Bayshore Foundation for Empowered Living, which raises funds for local charities that support assisted living—including Hike for Hospice Palliative Care, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Alzheimer Society of Canada, and Canadian Cancer Society.
“I think we have an obligation to take care of those that are less fortunate than ourselves [who] are in situations that we don’t want to be in,” said Cottrelle.
Cottrelle is past president of Home Care Ontario and a founding member of the Canadian Home Care Association (CHCA). The CHCA is a not-for-profit association dedicated to ensuring the availability of accessible, responsive home care.
“Home care is still the new frontier of healthcare here in Canada ... and I wanted to ensure there was an organization to make sure the frontier was going to be heard on a national level,” said Cottrelle. “I respect that healthcare is provincial, even to the point of local, but there needs to be some representation on a national level as well.”
Cottrelle believes Canada still has a long way to go to better support patients who are seeking control of their independence through home care. “I believe any person with a chronic condition should not be in the hospital, they should be at home” he said. “Our whole mandate is about out-of-hospital care. I want to emphasize that hospitals are incredibly important ... but we need better home care.”
“[Home] is a better place to be. It is a far better environment and we are even moving to the point, which I am quite thrilled about, where it is a safer environment,” he said.
Cottrelle recently joined the board of directors of the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation—a not-for-profit organization that works to prevent neurotrauma and to ensure that Ontarians with neurotrauma have a high quality of life.
“One of the challenges we have in the healthcare system [is that while] we have a great, great system for acute, we have not figured out how to do better for chronic,” said Cottrelle.
In 2007, Cottrelle was named Ontario’s Health Services & Sciences Entrepreneur of the Year. Cottrelle was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, given to outstanding citizens and home care leaders across Canada. Bayshore has achieved platinum status as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for more than 10 consecutive years since 2006.
He enjoys cycling, skiing, snowshoeing, and hiking. “I am a true Canadian, anything outdoors is good.”
Cottrelle also spends as much time with his family as possible. “I have a 99-year-old mother living at home, as she should be.”
CHECK OUT OUR PODCASTS
And now for something completely different. As part of an educational series on dermatologic concerns in Black skin, Dr. Neil Shear, former Head of Dermatology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and founder of its Drug Safety Clinic, and Brian Carleton, Senior Clinician Scientist at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, discuss Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS), also known as toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). SJS/TEN is a drug-induced disease involving extensive blistering of the skin and a high risk of death—but genetic markers can help predict in whom it will occur. Tune in for a discussion of genetic screening and rare drug reactions.
“NPC Podcast Presents: Next in Pharma” is available now. The first episode, “AI-Powered Analytics,” is hosted by Michael Cloutier. Mike’s guests are Martin Booth, Director of Analytics and Data Excellence at AstraZeneca; Omer Ariburnu, Affiliate Head of Customer Excellence and Operations at Biogen; and Shawna Boynton, Omnichannel Marketing Manager at Novo Nordisk. “NPC Podcast Presents: Next in Pharma” is presented in co-operation with our friends at ODAIA.ai
NEXT WEEK
The NPC Podcast returns for a fifth season. In the 07/27 edition of NPC Healthbiz Weekly, we’ll hear from Dr. Angela Genge, Executive Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Montreal Neurological Institute, on engaging patients in clinical trials. It’s easy to get your no-charge subscription and have the issue sent to your phone or inbox each Tuesday at 6:00 a.m. sharp.
Stay safe, stay sure, and stay on your game. We’ll see you again next week.