Marketing drug products through deceptive claims

Marketing drug products through false and deceptive claims is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan.

What is new, however, is that some homoeopathic pharmaceutical companies who profess strict adherence to good manufacturing practices and ethical marketing policies have also taken to the obnoxious practice!

One can cite several instances where drugs marketed for one or two minor medical conditions in the country of origin are advertised with several false claims to expand their user base in Pakistan. One such example is of a product of a well-known German company. According to the manufacturer’s manual, it is effective for inflammatory throat and sinusitis. In Germany and other European countries it is prescribed for these two indications only. Until recently, in Pakistan too, it had been recommended for these two complaints only.

But now, through misleading advertisements, it is being recommended also for dwarfism (shortness of height) and anorexia (loss of appetite)!

That may help earn the company some more Euros but at what cost?