Incontinence campaign tests limits of advertising rules

The first television commercial in a nationwide campaign in the United Kingdom designed to raise awareness of incontinence was aired this week. The campaign, which is being mounted by a leading drug company, has raised fears that it might spearhead a development which will increase pressure on the already overstretched NHS drugs budget.

The £1m ($1.6m) campaign by Pharmacia and Upjohn, manufacturer of the incontinence drug Detrusitol (tolterodine tartrate), will test the rules banning the advertising of prescription only drugs direct to the public, and the outcome is being closely watched by other pharmaceutical companies.

Posters and magazine and …