The manufacturer of the impotence medication Cialis is to get a strong reprimand from the pharmaceutical industry watchdog in the United Kingdom after it produced literature for Cialis which was deemed to be in violation of the rules governing the promotion of prescription medication.

The Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority issued a statement saying that Eli Lilly had brought discredit on the pharmaceutical industry when it marketed Cialis on television, online and in literature placed in doctors' surgeries all over the United Kingdom.

The PMCPA said that Eli Lilly had published information about Cialis which did not explain the risks and side effects associated with using the impotence medication.

This would have encouraged men to get a prescription for Cialis without knowing enough about it.

The campaign which was called '40 over 40' was an extensive campaign which Eli Lilly said would raise "disease awareness" about the problem of erectile dysfunction in the United Kingdom. Eli Lilly said that 40 percent of men over the age of 40 in the UK suffered from some form of erectile dysfunction.

Eli Lilly has toned down its promotion of Cialis and the '40 over 40' campaign in response to this judgment and has accepted the ruling.

In fact Eli Lilly agreed to stop using certain parts of its advertising campaign last month after concerns were raised by health officials. Prescription medication is not allowed to be advertised in the United Kingdom however drug companies are allowed to provide information about illnesses and where to get help for them. In America prescription medications are allowed to be advertised subject to various rules and regulations.

There is a concern that the manufacturers of the drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra have been over promoting even mild erectile dysfunction as a disease, when in fact some health officials argue that it is a natural form of aging and should not necessarily be something that men should be too concerned about.

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