Attorneys General require Bayer to run a $20 million corrective advertising campaign

Twenty three state Attorneys General, including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, have reached a settlement with Bayer Corporation based on allegations the company violated a 2007 agreement by using misleading advertising to market its oral contraceptive, Yaz. The new terms, which Madigan helped craft with the Oregon and California Attorneys General and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA), require Bayer to submit all future Yaz television commercials to the FDA for approval prior to airing, to comply with all the FDA’s recommended changes to the advertising, and to clearly and conspicuously disclose the symptoms for which the FDA has approved the advertised medications. The Illinois Attorney General's office press release is available here. The impetus for the AGs actions apparently was an October 2008 FDA Warning Letter to Bayer (available here) concerning two Yaz TV spots.