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# Pharmacist Group Reverses Policy to Urge DTC Ban
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/pharmacist-group-reverses-policy-to-urge-dtc-ban/
- Published: 2016-06-24T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T21:11:43.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, FDA Policy/General, Devices, #legacy-id-D5136041

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) has approved a [policy](http://www.ashp.org/menu/AboutUs/ForPress/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?id=938&ref=fdaweb.com) that urges Congress to ban all direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs and medication-containing devices. The new policy, which was adopted earlier this month by the organization’s House of Delegates, is a reversal of its long-advocated policy calling for FDA to develop research to evaluate medication-use safety implications of FDA policies and industry marketing practices related to DTC advertising. ASHP had also supported a delay in DTC promotion of newly approved drugs until post-marketing data are collected.

ASHP’s new policy points out that a 2002 Government Accountability Office report noted that “pharmaceutical companies have increased spending on DTC advertising more rapidly than they have increased spending on research and development” and that “DTC advertising appears to increase drug spending and utilization.” The report also stated that regulatory oversight has not prevented the dissemination of misleading advertising by some pharmaceutical companies: “While generally effective at halting the dissemination of advertisements it reviews as misleading, FDA’s oversight of DTC advertising has limitations.”

Additionally, the new policy says that the organization believes that “medication education provided by pharmacists and other providers as part of a provider-patient relationship is a much more effective way to make patients aware of available therapies, rather than relying on direct-to-consumer advertising.”

In adopting the new policy, ASHP joins the American Medical Association (AMA) in supporting a DTC ban. Last last year, AMA members said they were concerned about growing marketing budgets, with DTC advertising jumping 30% over the past two years to $4.5 billion, according to market research firm Kantar Media. Physicians cited concerns that a “growing proliferation of ads is driving demand for expensive treatments despite the clinical effectiveness of less costly alternatives,” an [AMA notice](http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/news/news/2015/2015-11-17-ban-consumer-prescription-drug-advertising.page?ref=fdaweb.com) said. “Today’s vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices. Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate.”