Drug Ads on TV Should Include U.S. FDA Phone Number, Group Says

Consumers Union is pressing U.S.
regulators to necessitate that telecasting commercial messages for medicines
include a toll-free number to describe noxious side effects.

The group, the publishing house of Consumer Reports magazine, said
today it collected about 56,000 signatures on a request calling
for the Food and Drug Administration to necessitate the inclusion of
the agency's telephone number. also released results
from a telephone set opinion poll it conducted showing that lone 35 percent
of respondents knew they could describe side personal effects to the FDA.

Legislation signed in September by President
requires the FDA's telephone figure to be listed in black and white advertisements for
drugs. The measurement called on the Health and Person Services
Department, the FDA's parent agency, to analyze by the end of March
whether to include the figure in television commercial messages as well. A study
hasn't been completed.

''You can't turn on a television today without seeing a drug ad, but
those advertisements never advert that consumers should be reporting
serious drug side personal effects to the FDA,'' said Liz Foley, a
campaign coordinator with Yonkers, New York-based Consumers
Union, in a statement today.

The is reviewing a petition from the consumer advocacy
group, filed in December, to necessitate the telephone figure in
television commercials, said federal agency spokeswoman ,
in an interview. The needed survey is under way, she said.

Voluntary Coverage

The states it trusts on voluntary coverage of drug side
effects by health-care suppliers and consumers. The Food and Drug Administration tracks
the studies as a manner of monitoring drug safety. Spikes in reports
of hurts or deceases can take to new warnings or other
regulatory action.

The federal agency states side personal effects are under-reported. The
legislation approved last twelvemonth phone calls on the Food and Drug Administration to utilize databases,
such as those maintained by coverage companies, to observe side
effects suffered after medicines come up on the market.

, a
Washington-based trade group, is waiting for the survey before
taking a place on including the telephone number, said , a spokesman, in an interview.

Consumer Union's telephone set study establish that one in six of
those who had taken a prescription drug experienced serious side
effects, such as as those that are life-threatening or necessitate a
visit to a doctor.

Of those polled, 87 percentage said television advertisements should include
information about coverage side effects, according to Consumers
Union.

The opinion poll establish that 81 percentage of respondents had seen or
heard advertisement for prescription drugs in the former 30 days. Of those, 98 percentage saw advertisements on television.

Consumers Union said the survey, of 1,013 randomly selected
adults, was conducted from Feb. Fourteen to Feb. 17. The sampling error
is plus or subtraction 3.1 per centum points, according to the group.

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