The move was designed in part to attract more consumer advertising.
"The budgets are generally smaller and there is less testing than with consumer advertising."
At the same time, they have used consumer advertising to drive patient demand.
The debate about consumer advertising comes during a decline in breast-feeding.
He also needs to know if your consumer advertising will push customers into his garden centre to buy the new product.
The companies spent 6 percent more last year on sales representatives, consumer advertising and meetings with doctors, according to the study.
Commission officials said they were trying to determine whether the lack of consumer advertising had resulted in higher prices for consumers.
But the demand generated by consumer advertising has raised questions about how such ads are changing the practice of medicine.
The industry is spending about $2.5 billion on consumer advertising this year.
The expansion into consumer advertising by an industry that had focused almost entirely on trade promotion is a major one.