Pharmaceutical Marketing and the New Social Media

Abstract

As communications media have evolved, manufacturers have tended to wait for the FDA to establish explicit codes of acceptable marketing practices before devoting substantial resources to a new medium. Direct-to-consumer advertising in print media proceeded tentatively until the FDA issued a guidance document in 1985 establishing a standard format for providing a “brief summary” of risks. Prescription-drug advertising in broadcast media was similarly minimal until the FDA's guidance revised the definition of “adequate” risk information in 1997, and again in 1999, to permit broadcast media to include references to a toll-free number or Web site where consumers could obtain more detailed descriptions of a product's adverse effects. In the wake of these FDA actions, spending on direct-to-consumer advertising mushroomed from $579 million in 1996 to $1.3 billion in 1998 and to over $4 billion in 2008. In November 2009, the FDA convened a public hearing to discuss pharmaceutical promotion through Web-based social media, which present some new challenges.