Weight Loss Pills - Advertising Banned

DRUG giant Roche has been banned from advertising its weight-loss pill Xenical direct to consumers because of the risk of unsafe use.

The move comes after controversial advertisements for the drug were screened during the popular youth program Australian Idol, prompting criticisms that Roche was targeting teenage girls.

The National Drugs and Poisons Schedule Committee, which made the decision yesterday, said the advertising was increasing pressure on pharmacists to sell the product and this could lead to inappropriate use.

"While acknowledging the importance of the obesity problem in Australia, the (committee) decided that, on balance, there was insufficient public health benefit associated with allowing direct-to-consumer advertising," a committee spokeswoman said.

She said the drug was appropriate only for patients who were very overweight and had a serious health problem or who were obese, but not for the general population "who might wish to manage more minor weight issues".

However, the committee rejected calls for Xenical to be sold only by prescription, so pharmacists will still be able to sell the drug over the counter.

Consumer lobby group Choice, which had been campaigning for the drug to be returned to prescription-only status, welcomed the advertising ban by the committee, but said it would be effective only if pharmacists followed the issuing guidelines.

"Our research shows that a significant number of pharmacists aren't following the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's guidelines on how it should be sold, and we hope that those pharmacists would now pay more attention to those guidelines," Choice policy manager Gordon Renouf said.

In December, Choice tested pharmacists' adherence to the guidelines by sending a 19-year-old woman in the healthy weight range, who should not have been sold Xenical, to 30 Sydney pharmacies. The woman was sold the drug in 24 of 30 pharmacies.

Fewer than 10 pharmacists asked for her measurements, and eight of those who sold the drug gave no directions on how to use it properly. She was advised about diet and exercise in only 13 pharmacies.

Xenical costs between $120 and $180 for a four-week course and Mr Renouf said pharmacists faced a financial conflict of interest in advising customers against it.

However, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia spokesman Aaron Hall said he believed most pharmacists were following the guidelines.

"Advertising an over-the-counter drug in itself is not a bad thing. The devil is always in the detail," Mr Hall said.

"Drug companies really should think carefully about the impact of the advertising and the context in which it's shown to try and minimise perceptions of exactly what Roche has been accused of," he said.

Roche declined to comment yesterday.

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