After looking back at the first year of its Bad Ad outreach program, FDA judged that the initiative has successfully raised awareness about misleading promotion, according to an FDA press release. The program, which was intended to educate healthcare providers about misleading drug promotions, debuted on May 11, 2010. Since that time, the agency has received 328 reports of potentially untruthful promotion. In contrast, FDA received an average of 104 reports per year before the initiative was launched.
Healthcare professionals submitted 188 of the 328 reports, and 87 of them were identified for comprehensive review. The latter number demonstrates that the medical community has a relatively strong level of knowledge about what constitutes misleading promotion, according to the press release. The agency hopes that doctors’ heightened sense of awareness about misleading promotion will deter drug promoters who might otherwise violate regulations.