The FDA's position on social media By Dr Nicola Davies

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly using social media as a platform for their communications and advertising, enabling them to engage more actively with consumers and healthcare professionals, notes Dr Nicola Davies in her exclusive monthly FDA Blog for The Pharma Letter.1

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has always strictly regulated traditional means of communication concerned with drug treatment, and the agency is now taking a similar approach to regulating social media communications to ensure compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.2 The general requirement of the FDA is that when companies post about a particular drug or device, they must provide balanced information about both positive (the benefits) and negative (the side effects) aspects of the product.3

Development of guidelines