FDA to Hold Public Hearings on Big Pharma’s Social-Media Use
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold a two-day public hearing in November on how pharmaceutical companies use the web and social-media tools to market their products, the first step in a long overdue process that will finally establish guidelines for how drug makers proceed in a Web 2.0 world.
The industry is embracing the news, despite the newfound regulatory heavy hand the FDA has shown under the Obama administration. “It’s about time,” said an executive for one top-five pharmaceutical company who asked not to be identified. “Any guidance at all is better than having no guidance, which is what we have right now.”
Regulatory guidelines are now sorely lacking for direct-to-consumer spending by pharmaceutical companies using internet media. While overall DTC spending fell to $4.7 billion in 2008, a 10.6% drop according to TNS Media Intelligence, internet spending by drug makers zoomed 36% to $137 million — a modest output, but, again, a figure that was likely hampered by a lack of regulation and a fear of FDA retribution. It also does not account for web video, social media and other forms of marketing being increasingly embraced by the industry.
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