Accuracy of drug advertisements in medical journals under new law regulating the marketing of pharmaceutical products in Switzerland

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>New legal regulations for the marketing of pharmaceutical products were introduced in 2002 in Switzerland. We investigated whether claims in drug advertisements citing published scientific studies were justified by these studies after the introduction of these new regulations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this cross-sectional study, two independent reviewers screened all issues of six major Swiss medical journals published in the year 2005 to identify all drug advertisements for analgesic, gastrointestinal and psychopharmacologic drugs and evaluated all drug advertisements referring to at least one publication. The pharmaceutical claim was rated as being supported, being based on a potentially biased study or not to be supported by the cited study according to pre-specified criteria. We also explored factors likely to be associated with supported advertisement claims.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 2068 advertisements 577 (28%) promoted analgesic, psychopharmacologic or gastrointestinal drugs. Among them were 323 (56%) advertisements citing at least one reference. After excluding multiple publications of the same drug advertisement and advertisements with non-informative references, there remained 29 unique advertisements with at least one reference to a scientific study. These 29 advertisements contained 78 distinct pairs of claims of analgesic, gastrointestinal and psychopharmacologic drugs and referenced studies. Thirty-seven (47%) claims were supported, 16 (21%) claims were not supported by the corresponding reference, and 25 (32%) claims were based on potentially biased evidence, with no relevant differences between drug groups. Studies with conflict of interest and studies stating industry funding were more likely to support the corresponding claim (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.07–2.17 and RR 1.50, 95% CI 0.98–2.28) than studies without identified conflict of interest and studies without information on type of funding.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Following the introduction of new regulations for drug advertisement in Switzerland, 53% of all assessed pharmaceutical claims published in major medical journals are not supported by the cited referenced studies or based on potentially biased study information. In light of the discrepancy between the new legislation and the endorsement of these regulations, physicians should not trust drug advertisement claims even when they seem to refer to scientific studies.</p

Do advertisements for antihypertensive drugs in Australia promote quality prescribing? A cross-sectional study

Background Antihypertensive medications are widely prescribed by doctors and heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry. Despite strong evidence of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of thiazide diuretics, trends in both promotion and prescription of antihypertensive drugs favour newer, less cost-effective agents. Observational evidence shows correlations between exposure to pharmaceutical promotion and less ideal prescribing. Our study therefore aimed to determine whether print advertisements for antihypertensive medications promote quality prescribing in hypertension. Methods We performed a cross-sectional study of 113 advertisements for antihypertensive drugs from 4 general practice-oriented Australian medical publications in 2004. Advertisements were evaluated using a quality checklist based on a review of hypertension management guidelines. Main outcome measures included: frequency with which antihypertensive classes were advertised, promotion of thiazide class drugs as first line agents, use of statistical claims in advertisements, mention of harms and prices in the advertisements, promotion of assessment and treatment of cardiovascular risk, promotion of lifestyle modification, and targeting of particular patient subgroups. Results Thiazides were the most frequently advertised drug class (48.7% of advertisements), but were largely promoted in combination preparations. The only thiazide advertised as a single agent was the most expensive, indapamide. No advertisement specifically promoted any thiazide as a better first-line drug. Statistics in the advertisements tended to be expressed in relative rather than absolute terms. Drug costs were often reported, but without cost comparisons between drugs. Adverse effects were usually reported but largely confined to the advertisements' small print. Other than mentioning drug interactions with alcohol and salt, no advertisements promoted lifestyle modification. Few advertisements (2.7%) promoted the assessment of cardiovascular risk. Conclusion Print advertisements for antihypertensive medications in Australia provide some, but not all, of the key messages required for guideline-concordant care. These results have implications for the regulation of drug advertising and the continuing education of doctors.Brett D Montgomery, Peter R Mansfield, Geoffrey K Spurling and Alison M War

Component-Based Architecture for Systems, Services and Data Integration in Support for Criminal Analysis

Criminal analysis processes is based on heterogeneous data processing. To support it, analysts utilize a large set of specialized tools, however they are usually designed to solve a particular problem are often incompatible with other existing tools and systems. Therefore, to fully leverage the existing supporting tools, their technological integration is required. In this paper we present original approach for integrating systems based on the component-driven paradigm. Firstly, a problem of supporting criminal analysis is described with a strong emphasis on the heterogeneity issues. Secondly, some theoretical information about integration is depicted followed by the details of the proposed architecture. Finally, the technological assumptions are discussed and prototype integration based on proposed concept is overviewed. om the experiments are discussed in the final part of the paper

Structural Characterization of Mixed (TiO2)x(ZrO2)y(SiO2)1-x-y Sol?Gels (0.05 ? x, y ? 0.15) by a Combination of X-ray and Spectroscopy Techniques

A combination of extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and O-17 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) has been used to study the atomic structure of (TiO2)(x)(ZrO2)(y)(SiO2)(1-x-y) xerogels (0.05 less than or equal to x, y less than or equal to 0.15). The samples were prepared by reacting Ti butoxide and Zr n-propoxide with acetylacetone, to reduce reactivity of the metal alkoxides, and then reacting with partially hydrolyzed tetraethyl orthosilicate. EXAFS and XANES results imply that simultaneous insertion of Zr and Ti oxides into a silica host network causes the metals to adopt environments similar to those observed for the corresponding binary Zr oxide- and Ti oxide-silica systems. XANES, SAXS, and XRD indicate that the samples with up to 20 mol % total metal loading remain homogeneous with heat treatment up to 500 degreesC. O-17 NMR indicates that both Ti- and Zr-rich samples with 20 mol % total metal loading exhibit phase separation after heat treatment at 750 degreesC. After heat treatment at 1000 degreesC, the sample with x = 0.15 and y = 0.05 shows clear evidence from XRD of phase separation in the form of ZrTiO4 domains, which is not seen in other samples