Análise das propagandas dos medicamentos isentos de prescrição veiculadas em revistas para prescritores na área médica.

This article presents an analysis of the quality of advertisements for over-the-counter (OTC) drugs addressed to the medical profession, based on the new Anvisa resolution RDC 96 (17/12/2008). For this analysis, 16 volumes of the Brazilian Journal of Medicine (RBM) were collected, from August 2009 to December 2010. To investigate the quality of the adverts, we prepared a questionnaire divided into three parts. In total, 160 advertisements were found, of which 27 were related to drugs exempt from prescription, from 9 laboratories. It was observed that none of the advertisements complied fully with the new rules, as required by legislation (RDC 96/08), with violations ranging from identification of the advert to prohibitions of human figures and subjective messages. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a need to implement more effective monitoring, so as to improve the quality of the adverts, so they can be used as a reliable source of information and update by prescribers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]