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How far should Twitter, Wikipedia, blogs and other “social media” go in promoting drugs online?

Google, Yahoo and “other Web companies” don’t believe you already have enough coming at you in the way of advertisements.  So they’re joining the pharmaceuticals in trying to talk US federal regulators into making it easier to tout drugs online.

“The Food and Drug Administration is hearing from dozens of drug and advertising executives at a two-day meeting on Internet marketing of medical products,” says the Associated Press, going on:

“The agency has agreed to consider developing rules for online ads after companies complained that the guidelines for traditional media — which require detailed lists of side effects — have left them hamstrung on the Web.”

For its “Promotion of Food and Drug Administration-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media” meeting, among other questions, the FDA “asked presenters to address was: what criteria should be used to determine when third-party conversations are subject to ’substantive influence’ by companies that market the products being discussed,” says Reuters, continuing:

“The FDA also asked speakers to discuss what online messages drug makers are responsible for, how companies can achieve balance in ads within the confines of a 140-character Twitter message and when linking is appropriate or misleading.

“The hearing comes after the FDA sent warning letters about drug marketing online to 14 companies in April, including Eli Lilly and Merck & Co Inc. The agency told both companies that its ads online for certain products were misleading because they did not contain any risk information.”

Drug advertising “has been one of the few cash cows remaining for traditional media like television and magazines,” says the Wall Street Journal, going on:”Drug companies spent $4.4 billion on ads for prescription drugs last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence, an ad-tracking firm owned by WPP.”

But the likes of giant online advertising company Google “have missed out on most of those ad dollars despite the average of 91 million Americans who seek health information online each month, according to comScore,” says the story. “Pharmaceutical companies spent just $130 million to advertise prescription drugs on the Web last year, TNS says.”

Here’s how Google would like to do it, says NPR News:

“A link headline would go to a designated landing page, warning language would be a permanent part of the sponsored link, and ‘more info’ would lead a person to details about risks. For drugs carrying black-box labels, there would be a special kind of sponsored link to emphasize safety information.”

Where’s  the Asprin?

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