Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker, said it is revamping its consumer marketing, including educating doctors for at least six months about new medicines before beginning television and print advertisements.

The company may also recommend alternative treatments in its advertising, including diet and exercise, and provide risk and benefit information in all advertisements. New York-based Pfizer made the announcement in a PR Newswire statement today.

The decision comes nine days after the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade group said that 23 drugmakers agreed that direct-to-consumer ads for drugs must clearly describe risks. As part of the agreement, Pfizer and Eli Lilly & Co. said they won't advertise male impotence drugs during the Super Bowl, America's football championship.

Shares of Pfizer fell 31 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $26.39 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading yesterday. They have dropped 16 percent in 12 months.

The guidelines, set to start in January, are part of a strategy by Billy Tauzin, the new head of the Washington-based trade group and a former Louisiana Representative, to counter charges the industry spends too much on advertising and pushes pills that have turned out to be dangerous.

PhRMA said last week it will create an Office of Accountability to handle comments on advertising from the public and health professionals.

Television and print advertising by the industry has come under scrutiny recently. A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel raised concerns about consumer advertisements after Merck & Co. withdrew its Vioxx painkiller, a $2.5-billion- a-year seller, from the market in September, after the drug was linked to a higher risk of heart disease.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., the No. 5 U.S. drugmaker by sales, said on June 14 that it won't run television, print or radio advertising promoting new medicines until the products have been on the market for at least one year. The company will spend the first year after introducing a new medicine getting doctors familiar with the product.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Ostrow in New York at nostrow@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 11, 2005 08:12 EDT