Concept advertising (was Re: Non-competes)

[Garrett Wollman <wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu>]

<<On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 20:32:45 -0400, SteveOrdinetz <steveord@bit-net.com> said:

> One phrase that tends to get used a lot is "ask your health care 
> professional (has "doctor" become a politically incorrect term?) about 
> <product>".  Is this phrase one of those loopholes that allows drug 
> companies to make various claims about products without opening themselves 
> up to product liability lawsuits?

As I explained the other day, this is due to FDA regulations on drug
advertising.  Since there is no other legal way to obtain these
medications, they are not allowed to imply otherwise.  The more usual
formulation is, ``Ask $MEDICAL_PROFESSIONAL whether $DRUG is right for
you.''  (Your doctor is not supposed to give you $DRUG if you ask for
it directly.  If patients were considered capable of determining for
themselves, the drug would be available OTC -- that's one of the legal
standards.  IANADIL.)

-GAWollman