EVALUATION OF THE RATIONALITY OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUG PROMOTIONAL LITERATURES IN NEPAL

Abstract

Major marketing tool used by pharmaceutical companies in the Nepal is direct-to-healthcare professional marketing utilizing promotional drug information brochures. The aim was to investigate whether the information in promotional brochures presented to healthcare professionals in the Nepal by pharmaceutical representatives complied with the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for brochures. This observational, cross-sectional study was conducted in the Psychiatric outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary care hospital at Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal. A total of seventy one drugs promotional brochures were analyzed according to the WHO Guidelines during the study period. General information like name(s) of the active ingredient(s) using either international nonproprietary names (INN) or the approved generic name of the drug was mentioned on most of advertisements (n=62, 87.32%). Only 88.73% (n=63) brochure contained amount of active ingredient(s) per dosage form while none of the brochure contained other ingredients known to cause problems. Approved therapeutic indications and safety profile like side effects or major adverse drug reactions were outlined in 83.10% (n=59) and 11.27% (n=8) of promotional drug brochures respectively. This study highlights the need of healthcare professionals in the Nepal to remain cautious about promotional material presented by pharmaceutical representatives.

Keywords: brochures; evaluation; pharmaceutical; promotional.