DTC in Canada may be closer than you think. Currently, Canada allows only reminder and disease-awareness ads for prescription drugs. But while a court case continues to rage challenging the legality of the DTC ban, an industry group is quietly setting up the infrastructure that will help companies implement what may be a more patient-friendly DTC than what we see in the United States.

CanWest MediaWorks, a media conglomerate of TV stations, newspapers, and Web sites, launched a legal challenge against Health Canada back in 2005, hoping to get in on the action and the ad dollars pharma companies spend in marketing their drugs to consumers. They reason that it?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s only fair, since Canadians already have access to a considerable amount of DTC advertising through the spillover of US broadcast and print advertising.

With this in the background, the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (PAAB), an industry-backed group that monitors advertising, commissioned a task force to create advertising guidelines for companies?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ??kind of like the PhRMA Marketing Code. The guidelines are said to heavily emphasize adherence and health-literacy concepts, going far beyond basic guidelines, like Pfizer?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨Ask Me 3?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? program.

A first draft has already been turned over to PAAB, says Kathy Kastner, CEO of the Health Television System and head of the task force. The guidelines are now awaiting board approval. ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨If and when DTC becomes legal in Canada, the guidelines for consumer information will be modified for DTC,?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? says Kastner. ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨If it is resolved that it is legal, my task force?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s job is to implement the new guidelines.?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨??

The next PAAB task force meeting is on January 16, and the PAAB meeting is in April. Stay tuned for updates.