Advertising unapproved medicines not legal, despite government claim

RNZ News

6 hours ago

In a statement, Minister for Regulation David Seymour said the restriction on advertising new medicines at medical conferences "is being removed".
Photo:
RNZ / Mark Papalii
Despite a government announcement suggesting it has lifted the ban on advertising unapproved medicines, it remains a criminal offence, warn legal experts.
In a
joint media release
with Health Minister Simeon Brown, Minister for Regulation David Seymour welcomed "confirmation" of two major medical conferences in New Zealand next year, following the
rule change
to allow advertising of unapproved medicines at trade shows.
The Ministry for Regulation had found the "overly cautious approach" was out of step with other recognised jurisdictions, and the government "acted fast to fix it", Seymour said.
However, leading intellectual property lawyer Paul Johns - head of litigation for Pearce IP - cautioned the law had not yet changed.
"If I were the organiser of these conferences and had seen those media releases, I would be making sure that my sponsors were aware that in fact the law has not changed and any medicines they want to advertise ought to be approved, because the consequences are criminal - there are fines and even imprisonment.
"I don't think you would get that far, but they're there."
Parliament was currently considering some amendments to the Medicines Act (to enable faster approval of drugs and widen powers for nurse prescribers) but there was nothing to do with advertising, he said.
"It's still possible that the government could submit an amendment paper and put this advertising thing in there as well, but they haven't. So they appear to have a policy but they've done nothing about it in terms of legislation."
The "great irony" was that under the Therapeutic Products Act - which was repealed by the current administration - the government could have simply introduced new regulations allowing such advertising, Johns noted.
"But now they need to amend the Medicines Act."
Others have pointed out that medical conferences were planned years in advance, so the new policy could not have been the deciding factor for next year's bookings.
In a written response to RNZ's questions, Minister Seymour said the restriction on advertising new medicines at medical conferences "is being removed".
"Ending New Zealand's prohibition on advertising medicines at medical conferences and trade shows has sent a message that New Zealand is open for business. That's exactly what medical conference organisers needed to hear, with two already confirmed for 2026."
Medicines New Zealand chief executive Dr Graeme Jarvis said New Zealand had been missing out on conferences worth up to $90 million a year because it was impossible to run trade shows alongside them.
"So you're actually losing out on not only the income you would get from running the conference and trade show here, but also the tourism spend as well."
Clinicians had also been missing out.
"Doctors here aren't getting exposed to all of the latest and greatest in terms of conferences, scientific exchange, the information and updates on all sorts of things."
However, Auckland University associate professor of psychological medicine David Menkes said it was "misleading" to suggest doctors did not already have access to the latest information about new treatments.
"But usually that information comes not from a company rep, it will come from an expert who's presenting as a colleague, rather than as an exhibitor or a sponsor of a conference."
The academic psychiatrist said doctors liked to "believe they can't be swayed by corporate largesse" - but studies showed they were not immune.
"That's why academic journals require peer review and disclosure of interests."
Menkes is a long-time critic of
New Zealand's permissive marketing regime
: it is the only OECD country - apart from the United States - to allow direct-to-consumer advertising of medicines.
Further loosening of the rules could compound the risk of over-prescribing, he said.
"You don't want to be held up by red tape and bureaucracy, right? But you also want to have checks and balances in place.
"I'm afraid this new policy doesn't have adequate checks and balances against overt promotional behaviour by vested interests."
Seymour's office was unable to say when the government was planning to turn the policy into something Parliament could consider.