The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners is supporting a call for a ban on advertising prescription medicines directly to consumers.
New Zealand and the USA are the only two developed countries where the practice is allowed, and a Consumer survey released yesterday showed 57 per cent of Kiwis support banning it.
The College has been advocating for the practice to stop since 2017, and has used the survey as another example of a mandate.
One in eight consumers said an advertisement had prompted them to ask for a prescription medicine from their doctor or other health professional, and of those, 45 per cent got the prescription they requested, while 21 per cent received a prescription for another medicine.
The Ministry of Health has been consulting on whether the law should continue to allow medicine advertising as part of a review of the Medicines Act.
Speaking this morning on TVNZ 1's Breakfast Programme, Dr Richard Medlicott said advertising prescription medicines to consumers needs to stop.
"We think it disturbs the information that patients should be using to make a decision ...we think it's a bad idea," Dr Medlicott said.
"We're one of two countries in the world and you don't really want to look to the United States for a health system - it is spin doctoring."
Dr Medlicott said that advertising to consumers is "not really doing anyone any good - apart from the bottom line of some large companies."
SHARE ME