Commentary on FDA Hearings on Social Media
From Jim Weinrebe, EVP at Schwartz Communications, live from the FDA open hearings on use of the Internet and Social Media Tools in Promotion of FDA-Regulated Products:
Four hours of testimony has just concluded, with statements from product manufacturers and their trade associations, communication firms, lawyers and non-profits and health advocates. As suggestion after suggestion piled up as to what industry and FDA can or should do to find an acceptable middle ground between industry participation in social media and realistic regulatory requirements for monitoring of and accountability for correcting inaccurate information, one fundamental question loomed un-stated. That is, until the very end of the morning session: How can an already capacity-constrained FDA that struggles to expedite its current mandate possibly find the organizational funds and staffing to take on all the activities associated with social media monitoring and policing? The firm recommendation from Diana Zuckerman, representative of the National Research Center for Women and families and a harsh industry critic, is to institute user fees for that very purpose. A formal proposal toward that end is pending, according to Zuckerman, who also "outed" several product brands and companies for Internet communication that she alleged was lack of compliance with existing requirements for risk disclosure. Certainly a wake-up call and provocative way to end the morning.
Tags: FDA, Social Media
Posted by Jim Weinrebe on November 12, 2009 at 1:14 PM
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