Helping Healthcare Professionals identify trusted product advertising

For 54 years, PAAB has been recognized by Health Canada as the Advertising Preclearance Agency for healthcare professional directed health product advertising.

PAAB ensures transparent disclosure of the limitations in the evidence upon which advertising presentations are based.

All ads bearing the PAAB logo meet the regulatory, scientific, therapeutic, and ethical standards outlined in the Code of Advertising Acceptance. 

New: Attention Icon – Helping HCPs easily identify limitations of evidence so they can decide if the data is meaningful to their own practice. 

See the HCP Survey Report which shaped access to real-world evidence presentations.  

COMMENTS

Healthcare Professional

Healthcare product advertising is designed to inform about new and evolving treatment approaches. However, not all advertising meets high standards.

Materials that bear the PAAB logo signify that they have undergone a rigorous independent review process, ensuring that they are:

Evidence based and consistent with current medical practice 

All claims contained therein are supported by valid and representative evidence. Annual renewal ensures that claims continue to reflect the marketplace. Clinical trials featured in advertising are accompanied by transparent disclosure of key study limitations to enable you to efficiently determine whether the study is of value to you.



Balanced with respect to risk and benefit

The PAAB Code requires transparent disclosure of risk information from the promoted medication’s Health Canada approved product monograph so as to promote optimal patient selection.



Consistent with the Health Canada approved label

Advertising may not be inconsistent with the Health Canada approved product monograph.

You have a voice

PAAB adjudicates complaints on healthcare professional advertising for healthcare products such as prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, natural health products, and homeopathy products. You can launch a complaint.

When & How to Launch a Complaint

Would you like to share your views on advertising standards?

In order to ensure that PAAB meets the needs of Health Canada, healthcare professionals and patients, regular reviews of the PAAB Code are undertaken. PAAB would like to invite Canadian healthcare professionals to be part of this process by registering with us.

  1. Receive occasional invites to participate in research relating to the PAAB Code.

    For example, you may be invited to participate in: ·
    • Online advisory boards with your peers
    • Online surveys
    • Telephone interviews
    * A mixture of volunteer and paid opportunities will be available
  2. Opt-in to receive updates that may be relevant to your work, such as changes to the Code or complaint rulings from HCP filed complaints.
  3. Opportunity to apply to speak at PAAB’s national conference (successful applicants will be reimbursed).

Would you like to help us shape advertising standards toward optimal usefulness to you and your peers? Leave your details below:

Preclearance FAQs

What is preclearance?

The PAAB runs a preclearance mechanism. Preclearance is a process during which the advertising is reviewed and revised as many times as necessary for the advertising to be deemed to meet all provisions in the PAAB Code of Advertising Acceptance. We refer to it as preclearance (rather than simply clearance) because the entire process takes place before the advertising is used in the marketplace. Canada is one of the few jurisdictions in the world that employs such a robust preventative approach to keep the market clean of misleading advertising. Many other countries rely solely on a monitoring mechanism to react to misleading advertising some time after market exposure. PAAB also employs a monitoring mechanism but this is complementary to preclearance rather than in place of it.

Why does this matter?

Healthcare professional judgement and prescribing behaviour may be influenced by drug advertising. This may even be the case in the subgroup of healthcare professionals who consider themselves to be “immune” to advertising. Note that even healthcare professionals who refuse to accept visits from drugs representatives are exposed to advertising. PAAB believes that advertising plays an important role in providing timely information to healthcare professionals. The key is that it must be accurate, complete, clear and designed to promote credibility and trust. This is where the PAAB preclearance mechanism fits in.

Is PAAB preclearance recognized?

Yes. Although the PAAB is independent from both Health Canada and the pharmaceutical industry, the PAAB is the only regulator whose preclearance service is recognized by Health Canada for advertising directed to healthcare professionals. Additionally, the member publishers of the Canadian Association of Medical Publishers (CAMP) have committed that all healthcare product advertising subject to the PAAB code carry the PAAB logo. PAAB benefits from having open lines of communication with Health Canada. In fact, Health Canada attends meetings of the PAAB Board of Directors as a non-voting observer. See the composition of the PAAB Board of Directors. This might be the first time you have heard about PAAB. That’s because PAAB has been quietly effective. We’ve been running our preclearance mechanism in Canada for over 40 years. See our timeline from inception to now.

Resources

Click here to see the resources on our website which are particularly relevant to you. For example, we’ve collated a list of documents that outline some of the federal drug advertising regulations which impact you directly. Did you know that healthcare professionals need to be cautious not to contravene federal drug advertising regulations when promoting medical services in the context of medicines?

Resources

Set up a visit

Are you a representative from a healthcare professional association, institution, or university? Contact us at info@paab.ca if you’d like PAAB to come visit your group to perform a presentation about what we do and why we do it.

We inform

Click here to see the resources on our website which are particularly relevant to you. For example, we’ve collated a list of documents that outline some of the federal drug advertising regulations which impact you directly. Did you know that healthcare professionals need to be cautious not to contravene federal drug advertising regulations when promoting medical services in the context of medicines?

Resources

HCP
Resources

View All Resources

Useful Links for Healthcare Professionals

File a complaint

PAAB adjudicates complaints on healthcare professional advertising for healthcare products such as prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs, natural health products, and homeopathy products. You can launch a complaint.

Learn More

Invite PAAB to speak

Are you a representative from a healthcare professional association, institution, or university? Contact us at info@paab.ca if you’d like PAAB to come visit your group to speak about what we do and why we do it.

Email

Resources

Did you know that healthcare professionals need to be cautious not to contravene federal drug advertising regulations when promoting medical services in the context of medicines? Click here to see the resources on our website which are particularly relevant to you.

Learn More

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