In May 2010, FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP) launched the Bad Ad program. This program was designed to raise awareness among health care professionals (HCPs) and HCP students about untruthful or misleading prescription drug promotion and provide them with an easy way to report it to FDA. As part of this program, OPDP is launching an e-learning CME/CE course and case studies.
The e-learning course is a one-hour, self-paced training to help HCPs and HCP students learn how to identify prescription drug promotion that may be misleading or raise other regulatory issues and report it to FDA. Specifically, the course is made up of seven modules, including modules on The Bad Ad Program, Principals of Persuasion, FDA Oversight of Prescription Drug Promotion and Marketing, Common Drug Promotion Issues, and Reporting Potential Drug Promotion Issues, and can be taken for CME/CE credit. While anyone can take the course, the target audience is all current and future HCPs, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists.
Additionally, OPDP developed several case studies based on recent enforcement letters. HCP schools can incorporate these case studies into their curriculum to raise awareness about misleading prescription drug promotion. The cases cover a range of promotional materials and touch upon numerous prescription drug promotion issues. Each case includes a facilitator’s guide with questions and a detailed answer key.
The e-learning course and case studies will provide a solid fundamental understanding of common regulatory issues with prescription drug promotion to the nation’s current and future HCPs. OPDP believes that these new resources will continue to raise awareness about misleading prescription drug promotion and the role that HCPs can play in reporting these issues to FDA.