The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7361 p157
6 August 2005

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MSD taken to task over Fosamax promotion

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has ordered Merck Sharp & Dohme to withdraw promotional material for Fosamax Once Weekly (alendronic acid) 70mg tablets.

A competitor company complained that MSD representatives were claiming that its generic brand is not bioequivalent to Fosamax Once Weekly. The MHRA investigated this claim, found it to be incorrect and upheld the complaint. In a corrective statement, MSD also confirms that bioavailability and oesophageal injury (typically caused by oesophageal contact with the drug before absorption) are not linked, something that the promotional material could have implied.

Jeremy Mean, MHRA policy group manager said that the MHRA will not tolerate potentially misleading advertising material.