Why the Ministry of Health proposed to ban advertising of lollipops for sore throats

The Ministry of Health has proposed a ban on advertisements for antimicrobial drugs, including popular lozenges for sore throats. As a result, advertising platforms may lose at least 1.5 billion rubles.

The Ministry of Health proposed to introduce a ban on advertising of antimicrobial drugs in 2019–2020, follows from the action plan for “implementing a strategy to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance” (defines the state policy to prevent and limit the spread of microbial resistance to antimicrobial drugs) in Russia until 2030. RBC has a copy of this document, which the Ministry of Health sent for approval to 11 federal departments and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Antimicrobial drugs - this is an extensive list of products that are used for a variety of diseases, ranging from sore throat ("Grammidin", "Strepsils", etc.) and ending with rather serious drugs for the treatment of dermatological, gynecological (drugs based on fluconazole and natamycin, suppositories and Betadine solutions) or ophthalmic diseases, RNC Pharma Development Director Nikolai Bespalov told RBC.

Russia now restricts advertising for all prescription drugs, which also includes some antimicrobial drugs, such as antibiotics. They cannot be advertised in the media, but they can be at specialized conferences. All over-the-counter medicines can be advertised.

To ban any advertising of antimicrobial drugs, the Ministry of Health proposes to amend Art. 7 (goods whose advertising is not allowed) of the federal law "On Advertising". Now this article prohibits the advertising of tobacco, narcotic drugs, including for medical use, explosives, with the exception of pyrotechnics, the sale of human organs, abortion, etc.