Attorney General Bill McCollum filed a stipulated supplemental judgment against Bayer Corporation, which will add new requirements to a 2007 judgment concerning its product advertising. The judgment was filed on Monday, February, 9, 2009.
The 2007 agreement had to do with alleged deceptive advertising of Bayer’s products, including the failure to disclose safety risks associated with its marketing of Baycol. Monday’s judgment addressed allegations that Bayer’s 2008 marketing campaign of the birth control pill Yaz violated the earlier agreement.
“This case is a strong example of federal/state collaboration against unlawful marketing of prescription drugs. By combining our state enforcement authority with the FDA’s technical expertise, we have achieved an excellent result that ensures future advertisements will be lawful,” said Attorney General McCollum.
Based on the judgment, Bayer will be required to submit proposed television ads for Yaz to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval before the commercials air. The pharmaceutical company will also be required to comply with all regulatory comments the FDA makes regarding the advertising. In addition, Bayer will have to clearly disclose the medical conditions and symptoms that the FDA has approved for Yaz. Bayer will be performing a $20 million corrective advertising campaign to remedy misinformation from the misleading Yaz advertisements.
“This is a great example of collaboration between the FDA and state Attorneys General. By working together, we can achieve excellent results and double our efforts to clean up misleading advertising in the marketplace. This significantly benefits the public by ensuring that consumers are not misled about information relating to their health,” said Tom Abrams, director of the FDA’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications.
A total of 27 states participated in the action against Bayer.
