HK lobby pushes for end to decades-old drug ad ban

<p>HONG KONG: International pharmaceutical companies have thrown their </p><p>support behind a lobby to persuade the Government to lift a decades-old </p><p>ban on pharmaceutical advertising. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The move - if it succeeds - will open up a new, category with the </p><p>potential to spend multi-millions on advertising. Apple Daily's </p><p>corporate accounts director Mark Simon, who is helping to organise the </p><p>lobby, estimated spend in the first year could hit as much as HK$400 million. "This is not a complicated piece of legislation and we're </p><p>not going to quibble if some drugs are left out," Simon said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The lobby has attracted strong support from the Hong Kong Association of </p><p>the Pharmaceutical Industry (HKAPI), which counts about 50 multinational </p><p>pharmaceutical companies as members, and the American Chamber of </p><p>Commerce, which is keen to see US-style pharmaceutical advertising </p><p>permitted in Hong Kong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Robert Siu, executive director of the HKAPI, said the association was </p><p>keen to ensure all consumers in Hong Kong had similar access to </p><p>pharmaceutical information. He said the web only provided access to some </p><p>quarters of the population. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We would like to see the information disseminated through mass </p><p>communications tools as is the case in the US and New Zealand." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>