Corp-Ethics.com - Report: Ordered to pull misleading adverts

Company	GlaxoSmithKline [Company Info]
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Date	Issue	Title
25th Jun 2003	Questionable Practice	Ordered to pull misleading adverts

Report

The US government has ordered a drug giant to quit running a series of radio and newspaper ads that call the allergy spray Flonase a cost-effective alternative to pricey allergy pills.

The ad campaign urged allergy sufferers to ask their doctor about Flonase, a nasal spray, instead of antihistamine pills like Allegra and Zyrtec. Flonase maker GlaxoSmithKline began the ads shortly after insurance companies raised prices for the pills this spring.

But the Food and Drug Administration says the ads falsely imply that Flonase is fully interchangeable with the other drugs -- when in fact, it relieves only nasal symptoms and the pills can relieve itchy allergy-afflicted eyes, too.

Flonase "is neither therapeutically equivalent to the oral antihistamines nor interchangeable with or substitutable for them," the FDA wrote GlaxoSmithKline last week, in a letter posted to the agency's Web site Tuesday.

The ads had already quit running by the time the FDA complained, said Glaxo spokeswoman Lisa Behrens. She said the company thought it had accurately described the differences between Flonase and allergy pills, but that it would "work in compliance with the FDA" in developing future ads.

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22nd Sep 2004	Questionable Practice	GlaxoSmithKline	Glaxo drops appeal in Aids drug pricing case
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11th May 2004	Fraud Investigation	GlaxoSmithKline	GlaxoSmithKline faces antitrust investigation
22nd Jan 2004	Fraud Investigation	GlaxoSmithKline	$11.1 Million settlement
8th Jan 2004	Questionable Practice	GlaxoSmithKline	£1.5bn Tax Bill
16th Dec 2003	Questionable Practice	GlaxoSmithKline	Glaxo's CEO to scoop 5.7 mln stg a year
25th Jun 2003	Questionable Practice	GlaxoSmithKline	FDA tells Glaxo to pull misleading Flonase ads

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