Do drug advertisements in Russian medical journals provide essential information for safe prescribing?

Objective To examine pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals for their adequacy of information. Methods We selected a convenience sample of 5 major Russian medical journals covering different fields of medicine and different types of publications. We evaluated all the ads in all the issues of the selected journals published during 1998. We counted the number of a ppearances of trade, chemical, and generic names; indication and contraindi cation; pharmacologic group; safety warnings; and references. Counts in all categories were aggregated for each advertiser. Results There were 397 pla cements of 207 distinct advertisements. Only 154 placements (40%) mentioned the generic name, 177 (45%) mentioned any indication, 42 (11%) mentioned s afety warnings and contraindications, 21 (5%) warned about drug interaction s, and 8 (2%) provided references. The 6 companies responsible for the most ads on average provided less information than the other companies. Conclus ions Almost none of the drug ads published in Russian medical journals prov ide the basic information required for appropriate prescribing. This is des pite the fact that in Russia, ads that omit essential information and that could lead consumers to misunderstandings about an advertised product are i llegal. The arrival of drug advertising in Russia has brought little inform ation and has been potentially damaging.