FDA Says Marketing Campaign for Dutasteride is Misleading

The AP (2/28, Perrone) reported, "A marketing campaign for a GlaxoSmithKline prostate drug has drawn complaints from federal regulators, who said the space-themed advertisement is misleading." In an advertisement for Avodart [dutasteride] capsules, one actor recommends that another actor with frequent urination take the medication "adding that 'other medicines, they don't treat the cause, because they don't shrink the prostate.'" But, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "regulators say that claim is false. In a letter to the company's US management, the FDA said Merck & Co. Inc.'s Proscar [finasteride] also reduces the size of the prostate, and has a similar indication." The FDA also takes "issue with the visuals used to promote the drug. At one point the ad shows a man holding a model of a planet which is quickly replaced with a much smaller planet, to demonstrate Avodart's prostate-shrinking power." The agency "says the visual exaggerates the drug's effect."

From the American Association for Justice news release.