Rules Enforced; Marketers Unhappy

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Perhaps due to the Vioxx and teen antidepressant scandals, "the Food and Drug Administration is pelting drugmakers with letters warning that they have run afoul of promotional regulations." Advertising Age writes that the FDA's actions are "threatening to tip the $4 billion direct-to-consumer industry into a full-blown crisis." The FDA has warned nine companies so far in 2005, compared to 12 in 2004 and five in 2003. "DTC ads account for nearly a third of the advertising on the major broadcast network's nightly news programs," notes AdAge. "This is not a crackdown, it's enforcement," said Thomas Abrams, the head of FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communication. "We're prepared to take whatever action necessary to stop misleading promotion."