New pharma ad guidelines coming in 2023
Health Canada will release new guidelines on pharmaceutical advertising (1,040 words, 5 minutes)
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Health Canada will release new guidelines on pharmaceutical advertising based partly on feedback from advertising agencies and the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (PAAB).
Alain Musende described some of the motivations for the update and other Health Canada projects related to pharma ad regulation during the PAAB 3.0 Face to Face Workshop in Toronto on November 10, 2022.
Musende is with the Office of Policy, Risk Advisory and Advertising at Health Canada and is a Manager in the Section for Transparency and Advertising Regulatory Surveillance, Marketed Health Products Directorate, Government of Canada.
He noted that Health Canada has been receiving feedback from PAAB and advertising designers about the existing guidelines and the challenges they pose for some advertisers using them.
Some areas where the existing guidelines may be unclear or complicated to use include:
It is not clear where to distinguish between education and promotion.
Health Canada considers whether a work's “primary purpose” is advertising, but the primary purpose is not always clear.
It is not clear how much responsibility an advertiser has to prevent materials meant for physicians from being accessed by the lay public.
Advertisers need more guidance on when engagement with patient groups counts as promotion.
Musende said that Health Canada will hold a webinar on Jan. 10, 2023, to address how to distinguish “promotion” from education. Two to four weeks following that webinar, the agency will release new guidance on pharmaceutical advertising.
He noted that Health Canada considers online pharmacies an “advertising trend of concern.” These pharmacies often have unauthorized pharmaceutical advertisements and may promote therapies not approved in Canada.
Other regulatory projects discussed by Musende include a growing use of intelligent systems or A.I. to detect non-compliant advertising online.
This technology was used effectively during the pandemic to identify medical device and OTC companies that made unsupported claims about face masks and hand sanitizers, Musende said.
He noted Health Canada is currently conducting a six-month pilot project to determine if the approach is valuable for identifying Natural Health Product companies that make unsupported claims about cancer treatments.
THIS WEEK 11/15/22
Organon Canada launched Aybintio, a biosimilar of Avastin, for the treatment of adult patients with certain aggressive forms of cancers, including metastatic colorectal cancer, locally advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer, platinum-sensitive recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer.
Bristol Myers Squibb Canada announced that Health Canada has approved Camzyostm (mavacamten capsules) for the treatment of symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM) of the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II-III in adult patients.
Seagen Canada’s Tukysa (tucatinib) is now reimbursed in Quebec through the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ)—Listes des Médicaments - Établissements. Tukysa is indicated for treating advanced or metastatic HER2-Positive breast cancer in adult patients.
Takeda announced that the European Commission has granted marketing authorization for Livtencitytm (maribavir). It is indicated for treating cytomegalovirus infections in adult patients who have undergone a hematopoietic stem cell transplant or solid organ transplant.
LISTEN NOW
In season eight of the NPC Podcast, Zal Press, Founder and Executive Director of Patient Commando, talks about patient representation, the empowerment of patients through virtual tools, and diversity and equity in health technology. Hear him in conversation with podcast hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain.
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 represent a cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honoree each week.
2002 Inductee
Phil Diamond
Toronto
This is the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame, and for the next few issues, we will be revisiting the inaugural class of inductees.
Editor’s note: Phil died in 2012. The Phil Diamond Award for Community Service is presented annually to a worthy recipient at the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame luncheon held during the National Pharmaceutical Congress.
“I’ve been around for a long time,” Phil Diamond says, reflecting on the more than 15 years he has spent in healthcare advertising. His foray into the pharma business started in Montreal at Delmar Chemicals, a division of Labatt’s, where he marketed fine chemicals to pharmaceutical companies internationally. Diamond subsequently joined a Montreal-based ad agency and moved to Toronto to open a satellite office there, but in 1981, he established his own agency, and he considers that his most outstanding achievement. The start-up agency began in “a 12-foot by 12-foot subleased office with one telephone and day-timer at the ready for possible appointments,” he recalls. His most memorable impression of those early years is that he started out with a small amount of money–“just enough to last me three months.” He was amazed, he says, that “the first call I made, I was given a project,” which over time developed into a long-time relationship with a major pharmaceutical company.
Over the years, the agency continued to thrive, thanks to his agency “family” as well as what he calls his “fantastic” client base. “The layout artists, copywriters, printers, and other production suppliers helped us through the tough times, cleared up problems, and listened to our tales of deadline requirements. They contributed mightily to our success,” he says.
Diamond, who sold the company a few years ago, now spends his days as a healthcare consultant specializing in pre-NOC marketing activities. “I had a great run in the pharmaceutical industry. What wonderful people I met along the way.”
He stays busy in his off-hours as a hospital volunteer in the cardiac rehab area, as a member of the Rotary Club, and as president of his local baseball association. His most notable charitable achievement, bar none, has been The Walk in the Park golf tournament that raises money for sick children. Diamond founded the event 20 years ago and recalled his first tournament with only 12 players. “We raised $400 that first year and bought a wheelchair for the Hospital for Sick Children.” Today, the tournament draws 144 players, and many are members of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries who personally donate a modest fee to participate. Over the last five years, the tournament has raised about $70,000 for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which grants wishes to terminally and chronically ill children.
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