Patients

The PAAB logo provides assurance that the information you receive has undergone independent review. During our preclearance review, we verify that patient material is not promotional and that it is consistent with Health Canada approved product information and is based on authoritative sources for disease information.

Your perspective is important to us. Get involved in shaping the standards that are applicable to patient information materials generated by the pharmaceutical industry.  Simply express your interest to participate on future PAAB advisory committees in an email to patrickm@paab.ca. 

Trustworthy Patient Information

Healthcare product manufacturers are required to ensure that the PAAB logo appears on all materials approved by PAAB (whether print or digital). The presence of this logo indicates that the material has undergone a PAAB review to verify that the content is:

  • Consistent with Health Canada approved patient information for the sponsor’s product 
    Many products have information intended specifically for patients that is approved by Health Canada as part of the product’s licensing process. PAAB uses this information as a standard when reviewing subsequent patient materials.
  • Consistent with authoritative sources for disease information
    Patient materials often contain valuable education about the patient’s medical condition(s). The PAAB Code requires that this information be supported by authoritative sources.
  • Non-promotional in tone
    The intent of patient information is to educate patients about their condition and the product that they have been prescribed.

The PAAB Code

PAAB

Credible Healthcare Professional Communications

You rely on your healthcare professionals to be informed as their judgements have profound implications on your well-being. PAAB ensures that advertising for medications, natural health products, and homeopathic products that is directed to healthcare professionals does not misinform them. The PAAB code requires that healthcare professional advertising be:

  • Evidence based
    PAAB assesses the validity of the evidentiary support offered as the basis for each claim. For example, PAAB reviewers are trained to critically appraise clinical trials used to support therapeutic claims in drug advertising.
  • Balanced with respect to risk and benefit
    The PAAB code requires transparent disclosure of risk information from the promoted medication’s terms of market authorization so as to promote optimal patient selection.
  • Consistent with current market place and current medical practice
    The PAAB requires that the preclearance process be repeated EVERY year that the advertisement is in use. This is important as it enables PAAB to validate that the claims continue to reflect the current market place. The PAAB code also requires that claims describing place in therapy (e.g. “first line”) be consistent with most recent Canadian consensus guidelines.
  • Consistent with Health Canada approved information about the promoted product
    Advertising may not be inconsistent with the Health Canada approved Terms of Market Authorization.

PAAB Advisory Opinion on Consumer Communications

PAAB also provides an advisory opinion on materials that are distributed or visible to the general public. The Health Canada policy document “The Distinction Between Advertising and Other Activities", is used as the basis for PAAB’s assessment.

The Distinction Between Advertising and Other Activities

Current general public activities reviewed by the PAAB include


Help-seeking Messages


Consumer Brochures


Consumer Websites


Consumer Ad Campaigns


Institutional Messages

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Brand Reminder ads


Press Releases


Clinical Trial Recruitment


Physicians Websites


Disease Information

Set up a visit

Are you a representative from a patient association? Contact us at info@paab.ca if you’d like PAAB to come visit your association to perform a presentation about what we do, why we do it, and when patient materials created through collaboration between the association and the pharmaceutical industry require PAAB review.

What is PAAB

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We Inform

View our resources on our website which are particularly relevant to you. For example, did you know that some patient information materials created through collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry and patient associations require PAAB review?

Resources

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