Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Media

Sep 21st, 2009 by Fard Johnmar

skepticalEarly last weekend, the news broke that the FDA is holding a public hearing to help it adapt its regulatory posture to account for the special characteristics of social and Web 2.0 technologies.  Specifically the FDA states that it is:

“[E]valuating how the statutory provisions, regulations, and policies concerning advertising and promotional labeling should be applied to product-related information on the Internet and newer technologies. Although the agency believes that many issues can be addressed through existing FDA regulations, special characteristics of Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies may require the agency to provide additional guidance to the industry on how the regulations should be applied.”

Naturally, pharmaceutical companies and the marketing agencies that serve them are abuzz about this announcement.  John Mack of Pharma Marketing News, who has long called for the FDA to address drug marketing via social technologies, has begun to help observers understand what the FDA is seeking to learn and how to respond to the agency’s information requests.

However, if you are in another area of health marketing communications like social marketing or non-profit marketing, should you care about the FDA’s efforts in this arena?  The short answer is: Absolutely!

Whether you love or hate them, pharmaceutical companies have tremendous influence on how we talk about health in the United States.  For example:

  • Non-profits seek funding from pharmaceutical companies and sometimes work with them directly to draw attention to important issues like African American heart health
  • Major organizations like the CDC, HHS and WHO learn from and sometimes partner with drug firms to address and communicate about large-scale public health problems like the H1N1 flu virus and antibiotic resistance
  • Patients openly discuss, recommend and comment on how a range of medications are impacting their health and quality of life.  Sometimes drug firms are helping to facilitate these conversations.

In other words, the marketing communications activities of pharmaceutical companies impact many major areas of the health industry.  Dismissing the public hearing as being “not in my area” or failing to pay close attention to what is discussed during it, could be a serious mistake.

If you are looking to get up-to-speed on scope and the implications of the FDA’s public hearing on social technologies, please see these resources:

New here?  Learn more about the Path of the Blue Eye project by clicking here.

Image Source: Indy Star

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Read More from Walking the Path:

  1. Tools You Can Use: Planning, Approving and Evaluating a Pharmaceutical Social Media Marketing Initiative
  2. Off-Label Marketing & Social Media: What’s Big Pharma’s Responsibility?
  3. Google SideWiki & 5 Ways Health Organizations Can Anchor Themselves in the Social Media Storm

Posted in Health Marketing, Pharmaceutical Marketing, Social Media

23 Responses to “Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Media”

  1. Tweets that mention Walking the Path » Blog Archive » Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Media -- Topsy.com says:
    September 21, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by paulgrant and Path of the Blue Eye. Path of the Blue Eye said: Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Media http://tinyurl.com/l9e3gx #fdaSM hcmktg [...]

  2. John Mack says:
    September 21, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Fard,

    Thanks for pointing to Pharma Marketing Blog as a resource. I hope your readers will start working on their comments to the FDA by filling out my survey: http://bit.ly/GgW14

    John

  3. Med 2.0 » Blog Archive » FDA Launches Twitter Feed and Calls for Public Hearing on Social Media & Internet says:
    September 28, 2009 at 11:31 am

    [...] Walking the Path Blog: Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Med… [...]

  4. FDA Launches Twitter Feed and Calls for Public Hearing on Social Media & Internet « New Media in Motion says:
    September 30, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    [...] Walking the Path Blog: Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Med… [...]

  5. FDA Launches Twitter Feed and Calls for Public Hearing on Social Media & Internet | Pharma Marketer says:
    October 10, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    [...] Walking the Path Blog: Why Non-Pharma Marketers Should Care About the FDA Public Hearing on Drug Promotion & Social Med… [...]

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