Gadjah Mada Drugs Information Center (Indonesian acronym: PIOGAMA), Faculty of Pharmacy UGM held a National Seminar, namely Pharmadays 2017, on Saturday (16/9) at Auditorium of Magister of Management UGM entitled The Role of Pharmacist in Addressing the Rise of Drug Advertisement and Online Drugs Purchases. The seminar presented several keynote speakers who are experts in pharmacy sector, including Dra. I Gusti Ayu Adhi Aryapatni, Apt. (Head of Drugs and Food Control Agency Yogyakarta) and Dr. Nanang Munif Yasin, M.Pharm., Apt. (Vice Director of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics Assessment Agency Yogyakarta).
I Gusti Ayu Arypatni delivered a presentation regarding policies in controlling traditional drugs advertisement. In her presentation entitled Policies and Strategy of Drugs and Food Control Agency in Controlling Traditional Drugs Advertisement, Ary presented several issues on traditional drugs advertisement. One of them is the high number of violation in traditional drugs advertisement. According to Ary, the violation is caused by the lack of awareness on the regulation. In addition, Ary said it is also caused by non-optimal handling and follow-up monitoring of publication as well as promotion in local broadcasting media.
“Drugs and Food Control Agency coordinates with other stakeholders to keep controlling all drugs advertisement in various broadcasting media,” said Ary.
Ary said there are many forms of violation trends in traditional drugs advertisement, such as illegal product advertisement, including in e-commerce. Moreover, there is also advertising violation where the drugs are used to cure the diseases that actually need to be diagnosed or receive treatment from the doctors. “There are many forms of ad violations, the most common is an advertisement that includes excessive claims,” said Ary.
On the other hand, Nanang said information criteria for traditional drugs have to be objective, complete, and not misleading. Objective means it does not deviate from the approved claims. Traditional drug information has to be complete which includes information about usability, usage, contra-indications, side effects, warnings, and attention.
Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy UGM, Prof. Dr. Agung Endro Nugroho, M.Si., Apt. hopes this seminar can increase the awareness of society in responding to drugs advertisement in broadcasting media. He hopes the society will be more aware when they find advertisements that contain excessive claims.
“Advertisement with excessive claims can mislead the society. Therefore, drug advertisement has to be based on empirical and scientific facts,” said Agung.