Evaluation of promotional drug literature using WHO guidelines: comparison between present and previous data

Background: Medical professionals get information about drugs from drug manufacturers through brochures, reminders, flip charts, pamphlets, visual aids and other forms of advertisements which together constitute promotional drug literature (PDL). The objectives of this study were to find out find out percentage of PDLs that adhere to the guidelines laid out by WHO and to compare data obtained from this study to that of a similar study conducted 13 years back to see if there has been any change in the quality and standard of PDLs over this time period. Method: Total of 500 PDLs were collected from various OPDs of a tertiary care teaching hospital. These PDLs were evaluated against WHO ethical criteria for drug promotion, 1988. The results obtained were compared with a similar study conducted 13 years back (two authors from the previous study are co-investigators in present study) to check whether pharmaceutical companies adhere to WHO guidelines and whether there is any improvement in the quality and standard of PDLs over this time period. Results: There is significant decrease in percentage of PDLs mentioning generic names, approved uses, regimen, references in the present study compared to the previous one. At the same time this study also revealed some positive outcomes like decrease in the number of irretrievable journal articles used as references, decrease in the number of pseudographs and increase in the number of valid references. Conclusion: It is essential to consider the negative findings of this study and measures implemented to improve the same.