FDA introduces e-learning program about untruthful, misleading drug ads

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration has launched an online learning course aimed at healthcare professionals to educate them about potentially untruthful or misleading drug ads and promotional materials.

The FDA's Office of Prescription Drug Promotion announced Monday the launch, with MedScape, of the e-learning course, which offers continuing education credits for healthcare professionals. The course is part of Bad Ad, a program designed in 2010 to raise awareness about misleading and untruthful drug ads. It's aimed at healthcare professionals, but anyone can take it, the agency said. The office has developed several case studies based on warning letters the FDA has sent to drug companies, representing common problems.

"We encourage medical, pharmacy, nursing and other healthcare-related schools to incorporate these cases into their coursework," Office of Prescription Drug Promotion director Thomas Abrams wrote in a blog entry on the FDA's website. "The cases cover a range of promotional materials including a website, journal ad and TV ad, and touch upon numerous promotional practices that don't comply with our regulations."