Prescription drugs communication to consumers in Israel - a new regulatory policy balancing between advertising and access to information

As health care systems strive to reach an equilibrium between patient empowerment and access to information on one hand and health care providers and administrators who would like to assure rational drug use on the other hand, the debate over direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) is ongoing for decades. In Israel, the regulatory policy was that prescription drug advertising is prohibited. Recent developments in technology and communications, as well as the wide accessibility of information through the internet, made the Israeli regulatory authority update its policies by producing two new guidance documents which enable defined and limited communications between the pharmaceutical industry and the public. While not yet allowing full DTCA, the new policy allows for industry sponsored disease awareness campaigns and prescription drugs specific information directed only at patients treated with the same drug. These measures enable the provision of direct to consumer information by pharmaceutical companies.