NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Drugmakers have cut television ad spending by 10 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, the sharpest decline in two years, a newspaper said Tuesday.

The decline reflects pullbacks in the marketing of certain controversial, high-profile drugs, as well as reservations over the limits of a 60-second TV ad, USA Today said in its report.

Drugmakers "are trying to spend their money more selectively," Frank Ginsberg, chairman of ad agency Avrett Free & Ginsberg, told the newspaper, adding that the cutbacks might deepen as companies switch to more targeted pitches via the Internet, cable TV and direct mail.

The drug industry spent $388.5 million on network television advertising in the first quarter of 2005, down about $44 million from the same period last year," according to the report.

This is in sharp contrast with a 4.2 percent rise in overall network TV ads in the first quarter of this year, the newspaper said.

The bulk of the spending decline came from big ad campaigns including Pfizer's (down $0.01 to $27.09, Research) anti-impotence drug Viagra, said the report, with the company pulling TV ads after the Food and Drug Administration said they were misleading.

Pfizer also spent nothing to pitch its most popular painkiller Celebrex, after spending $12 million on TV ads a year ago, the newspaper said.

TAP Pharmaceutical spent nothing on TV ads for heartburn drug Prevacid in the first quarter of this year, versus $18 million in the same period last year, according to the newspaper. Spokeswoman Katherine Stueland told USA Today that a 60-second spot could not adequately present the drug's benefits and risks.

And AstraZeneca (up $0.30 to $41.35, Research) dramatically modified its ads for anti-cholesterol drug Crestor, which now places more focus on the drug's risks, said the report.

Why did Pfizer pull two drugs from the pipeline? Click here for more.