Consumer group slams hidden promotion of drugs

LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) An international consumer group called for governments today to crack down on drugmakers marketing practices, which it said were leaving patients misinformed about the benefits of medicines.

London-based Consumers International said there was a ''shocking'' lack of publicly available information about the billion a year spent by pharmaceutical companies on drug promotion.

''The pharmaceutical industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing as it does on research and development, yet consumers know next to nothing about where this money is going,'' Richard Lloyd, director general of Consumers International, said.

''Marketing regulation must be revised to demand more transparency from drug companies,'' he added in a statement at the launch of a new report criticising industry practices.

In most markets outside the United States, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medicines is banned.

But Lloyd said firms were increasingly finding inconspicuous ways to influence consumer opinion, such sponsoring patient pressure groups, funding disease awareness campaigns and offering hospitality to medical experts.

Many drug companies argue it is important to communicate with consumers about products and say their marketing activities are strictly controlled by government-appointed regulators, as well as having to comply with the industry's own guidelines.

REUTERS SK BST0454