The Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (PAAB) is a Canadian

not-for-profit organization A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

based in

Pickering, Ontario Pickering (2021 Canadian census, 2021 population 99,186) is a city located in Southern Ontario, Canada, immediately east of Toronto in Durham Region, Ontario, Durham Region. Beginning in the 1770s, the area was settled by primarily British colon ...

. Acting as a pseudo-regulatory body, PAAB offers review and pre-clearance services recognized by

Health Canada Health Canada (HC; )Health Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Health (). is the Structure of the Canadian federal government#Departments, with subsidiary units, department of the Gove ...

pharmaceutical companies The pharmaceutical industry is a Medicine, medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or Self-medicate, self-administered b ...

and marketing agencies who wish to advertise directly to consumers and/or healthcare professionals. It is financed on a fee-for-service basis. It works collaboratively with Health Canada, with the federal agency represented as an ex-oficio member on PAAB's board of directors.

History

PAAB originated in 1976 through a collaboration between the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Association of Canada and the

Canadian Medical Association The Canadian Medical Association (CMA; ) is a national, voluntary association of physicians and medical learners that advocates on national health matters. Its primary mandate is to drive positive change in health care by advocating on key hea ...

. Within its first year, the organization had two staff members and had reviewed some 400 applications. As of July 1977, all advertisements printed in the

Canadian Medical Association Journal The ''Canadian Medical Association Journal'' (French ''Journal de l'Association Médicale Canadienne'') is a peer-reviewed open-access general medical journal published by the Canadian Medical Association. It publishes original clinical research ...

carried the PAAB seal of approval following an examination of their quality and accuracy. In 2004, PAAB's Patient Material Code was revised to include materials provided to patients by healthcare providers as well as adding regulations to standardize advertising over the internet. As of 2015, PAAB reported completing over 7,000 "first reviews" annually.

Activities

Advertising materials for all health products in Canada that are intended for healthcare professionals are submitted for review and pre-clearance by PAAB, who prescribes the guidelines for direct marketing to this group. Educational materials and other messaging directed towards consumers on prescription drugs, and the medical conditions they treat are reviewed by PAAB and Advertising Standards Canada to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. While these reviews are not mandatory, PAAB is obligated to forward all safety-related complaints to

Organization

Governance

Board of directors

PAAB is governed by a board of 12 members, including representation from industry associations

Innovative Medicines Canada Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC) is a national association of pharmaceutical companies that represents the interests of the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Canada. Its membership includes biopharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers, ...

BIOTECanada BIOTECanada, previously the Industrial Biotechnology Association of Canada, is a Canadian biotechnology industry association based in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario. It is an industry-funded membership organization composed of over 250 national and inter ...

, Association of Medical Advertising Agencies, Canadian Association of Medical Publisher and Consumer Health Products Canada. * Lorenzo Biondi (Chair) * Cécile Bensimon (Vice Chair) * Jim Hall (Canadian Association of Medical Publishers, Treasurer) * Alex Dearham (Canadian Medical Association) * Joseph Chan (Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada) * Anita Hammer (BIOTECanada) * Lama Abi Khaled (Innovative Medicines Canada ) * James Mastin (Nurse Practitioner Association of Canada) * Sean McNamara (Canadian Dental Association) * Denis Morrice (Best Medicines Coalition) * Michael Service (Canadian Healthcare Communications Providers) * Tammy Quinn (Canadian Pharmacists Association) * Agni Shah (Consumer Council of Canada) * Kristen Willemsen (Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association) Notable former members of the board include

Susan Eng Susan Eng (), LL.B. is a Toronto lawyer and former chair of the Metro Toronto Police Services Board from 1991 to 1995. She is also an activist in the Chinese community in Toronto. History Eng, the daughter of immigrants from China, studied at J ...

, former Chair of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons.

Clients

Clients of PAAB include

and

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

working on behalf of pharmaceutical interests. {{columns-list, colwidth=15em, * 3M *

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, in the United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate k ...

AbbVie AbbVie Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois. It is ranked sixth on the list of largest biomedical companies by revenue. In 2023, the company's seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 74, and rank 89 on the ...

* Acadia Healthcare *

Actavis Actavis Generics (formerly known as Watson Pharmaceuticals and Actavis plc, prior to the acquisition of Irish-based Allergan, Inc.) is a global pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing, manufacturing and marketing branded pharmaceut ...

Actelion Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company established in December 1997, headquartered in Allschwil near Basel, Switzerland. The company is part of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine business segment. Actel ...

Alcon Alcon Inc. () is a Swiss-American pharmaceutical and medical device company specializing in eye care products. It has a paper headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland but its operational headquarters are in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, where it ...

Allergan Allergan plc is an American, Irish-domiciled pharmaceutical company that acquires, develops, manufactures and markets brand name drugs and medical devices in the areas of medical aesthetics, eye care, central nervous system, and gastroenterology. ...

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

* Antibody Healthcare Communications *

Apotex Apotex Inc. is a Canadian pharmaceutical corporation. Founded in 1974 by Barry Sherman, the company is the largest producer of generic drugs in Canada, with annual sales exceeding . By 2023, Apotex employed close to 8,000 people as Canada's large ...

* Aspen Pharmacare *

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

Bausch Health Bausch Health Companies Inc. is a global, diversified American-Canadian pharmaceutical company. Its global corporate headquarters are located in Laval, Quebec, Canada, and its U.S. headquarters are in Bridgewater, New Jersey. It develops, manufa ...

* Baxalta *

Baxter International Baxter International Inc. is an American multinational healthcare company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The company primarily focuses on products to treat chronic and acute medical conditions. The company had 2023 global net sal ...

Bayer Bayer AG (English: , commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and biomedical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer' ...

Biogen Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. Biogen ope ...

Boehringer Ingelheim C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG & Co. is the parent company of the Boehringer Ingelheim group, which was founded in 1885 by Albert Boehringer (1861–1939) in Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany. As of 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim is one of the world's List of la ...

* Boiron *

Bristol Myers Squibb The Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Trade name, doing business as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), is an American multinational pharmaceutical company. Headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, BMS is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies ...

Celgene Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, was a pharmaceutical company that produced cancer and immunology drugs. Its primary products were Revlimid (lenalidomide), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma (63% of 2018 r ...

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. is an Indian multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical company based in Hyderabad. The company was founded by Kallam Anji Reddy, who previously worked in the mentor institute Indian Drugs and Pharmace ...

Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company, Trade name, doing business as Lilly, is an American multinational Medication, pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Its products are sold in approximately 125 count ...

EMD Serono Merck Serono (EMD Serono in the United States and Canada) is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, and a brand and division of Merck focused on biopharmaceuticals. In September 2006, Merck KGaA announced its intent to p ...

Emergent BioSolutions Emergent BioSolutions Inc. is an American multinational specialty biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. It develops vaccines and antibody therapeutics for infectious diseases and opioid overdoses, and it provides m ...

* Environics * FCB Health Canada * Ferring Pharmaceuticals * FleishmanHillard * Fresenius Kabi *

Galderma Galderma SA is an American-Swiss pharmaceutical company specializing in dermatological treatments and skin care products. Formerly a subsidiary of L'Oréal and Nestlé, it was acquired by a consortium of private institutional investors in 20 ...

* GE Healthcare *

Gilead Sciences Gilead Sciences, Inc. () is an American biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Foster City, California, that focuses on researching and developing antiviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, influenza, and CO ...

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...

Hill+Knowlton Strategies A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as mountains. Hills fall unde ...

* Indegene * Indivior *

IQVIA IQVIA, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, Inc., is an American Fortune 500 and S&P 500 multinational company serving the combined industries of health information technology and clinical research. IQVIA is a provider of biopharmaceutical develop ...

* Janssen *

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

* Knight Therapeutics * Kyowa Kirin *

Leo Pharma LEO Pharma A/S is a multinational Danish pharmaceutical company, founded in 1908, with a presence in about 100 countries. Its headquarters are in Ballerup, near Copenhagen The company is 100% integrated into a private foundation owned by the LEO ...

Lundbeck H. Lundbeck A/S, commonly referred to as Lundbeck, is a Denmark, Danish international pharmaceutical company engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, marketing and sale of pharmaceuticals across the world. The company’s products ar ...

* Lupin Pharmaceutical * McCann *

McKesson Corporation McKesson Corporation is a publicly traded American company that distributes Medication, pharmaceuticals and provides health information technology, Medical device, medical supplies, and Health administration, health management tools. The company ...

McNeil Consumer Healthcare McNeil Consumer Healthcare is an American medicals products company belonging to Kenvue consumer health group. It primarily sells fast-moving consumer goods such as over-the-counter drugs. History The company was founded on March 16, 1879, by 2 ...

Mead Johnson Mead Johnson & Company, LLC is an American company that is a leading manufacturer of infant formula, both domestically and globally, with its flagship product Enfamil. It operates as an independent subsidiary of Reckitt. The company dates ba ...

* Meda Pharmaceuticals * Medikidz * Merck * Merz Pharma * Mylan Pharmaceuticals *

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company, pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by re ...

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, with production facilities in nine countries and affiliates or offices in five. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder Novo Holdings A/S ...

Octapharma Octapharma AG, founded in 1983 by Wolfgang Marguerre, is a family-owned pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland. It bills itself as "one of the largest human protein manufacturers in the world, developing and producing human proteins from h ...

Otsuka Pharmaceutical (), abbreviated OPC, is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Osaka and Naruto, Tokushima, Naruto, Japan. The company was established August 10, 1964. History OPC's parent company Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd. joined the Tokyo Stock Excha ...

Paladin Labs Knight Therapeutics Inc. is a Canadian public specialty pharmaceutical company based in Montreal, Quebec that focuses on acquiring or in-licensing innovative pharmaceutical products for the Canadian and select international markets. It is listed on ...

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered at The Spiral (New York City), The Spiral in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 184 ...

* Pierre Fabre Group *

Publicis Publicis Groupe S.A. is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. As of 2024, the company is the largest advertising company in the world by revenue. Based in Paris, it is one of the 'Big Four' advertising commpanies, al ...

Purdue Pharma Purdue Pharma L.P., formerly the Purdue Frederick Company (1892–2019), was an American privately held pharmaceutical company founded by John Purdue Gray. It was sold to Arthur Sackler, Arthur, Mortimer Sackler, Mortimer, and Raymond Sackler in 1 ...

Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...

Sandoz Sandoz Group AG is a Swiss company that focuses on generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars. Prior to October 2023, it was part of a division of Novartis that was established in 2003, when Novartis united all of its generics businesses under the ...

Sanofi Aventis Sanofi S.A. is a French multinational pharmaceutical and healthcare company headquartered in Paris, France. The corporation was established in 1973 and merged with Synthélabo in 1999 to form Sanofi-Synthélabo. In 2004, Sanofi-Synthélabo merg ...

Sanofi Pasteur Sanofi Pasteur is the vaccines division of the French multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Sanofi Pasteur is the largest company in the world devoted entirely to vaccines. It is one of four global producers of the yellow fever vaccin ...

Seagen SeaGen was the world's first large scale commercial tidal stream generator. It was four times more powerful than any other tidal stream generator in the world at the time of installation. It was decommissioned by SIMEC Atlantis Energy Li ...

Servier Servier Laboratories (French: Laboratoires Servier, often abbreviated to Servier) is an international Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical company governed by a non-profit foundation, with its headquarters in France (Suresnes). The consolida ...

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

* Sobi * Stallergenes Greer * Sunovion * Syneos Health *

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company. It is the third largest pharmaceutical company in Asia, behind Sinopharm and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (t ...

TBWA Worldwide TBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose main headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. Since 1993, the agency has been a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's second largest advertising agency holding ...

Teva Pharmaceuticals Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (also known as Teva Pharmaceuticals) is an Israeli multinational Pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutical company. Teva specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include branded-drug ...

* UCB *

Valneva __NOTOC__ Valneva SE is a speciality vaccine company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases addressing unmet medical needs. The company current market three proprietary travel vaccines. Rev ...

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is an American biopharmaceutical company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was one of the first biotech firms to use an explicit strategy of rational drug design rather than combinatorial chemistry. It maint ...

ViiV Healthcare ViiV Healthcare ( ) is a British multinational pharmaceutical company specializing in the research and development of medicines to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. Its global headquarters is located in London. The company was created as a joint ...

Weber Shandwick Weber Shandwick is a marketing communications firm formed in 2001 by merging the Weber Group, Shandwick International and BSMG. The company is part of global agency network Interpublic Group The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) is a ...

References

Non-profit organizations based in Canada