THE controversy over direct-to- consumer (DTC) advertising by the pharmaceutical industry continues, with a recent issue of Newsweek magazine fuelling the debate. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents the interests of large US pharmaceutical manufacturers, paid for all the advertising in a special issue of the magazine that contains only health-related articles. Concerned about the magazine's collaboration with PhRMA, five US consumer groups have written an open letter to the journal. In this they claim that Newsweek has "breached ethical standards in a virtually unprecedented manner" in its 10 September 2001 special issue.

Consumer Federation of America, Families USA, National Consumers League, Public Citizen and United Auto Workers point out that the issue contains numerous articles and advertisements extolling the virtues of recent and prospective drug developments. Newsweek allowed the drug lobby to use a supposedly independent media outlet to further its public policy objectives, the letter states, and claims that the magazine has violated "the ethics of responsible journalism".

The consumer groups contend that in recent years PhRMA has blocked legislative proposals designed to make pharmaceuticals more affordable, by arguing that such consumer-friendly legislation would damage the industry's research and development capacity. The letter points out that "at a time when other media outlets and many in the medical community - including all of the major medical journals, the American Medical Association, and many medical schools - are questioning the ethical dangers of financial ties to the drug industry, it is astounding that Newsweek developed an exclusive advertising relationship with the drug lobby that allowed it to promote its policy agenda".

In particular the consumer groups stress that nowhere in the special edition is there any discussion about increasingly unaffordable drug prices. Nor, they say, is there any indication that generic drugs can save people money, and how some companies' use of federal patent laws prevents such generic drugs from coming to market. The letter concludes that it is in this context that Newsweek's special issue must be seen, and why it does "a great disservice to the public".

Responding to the criticisms Newsweek Editor-in-Chief, Richard Smith, said that advertisers play no role in the magazine's editorial process, and that Newsweek had conceived the idea before going to advertisers. PhRMA commented that it did not see the issue "until it was produced, printed and given to us".