DTC 360

FDA to DTC Marketers: Let’s Play This by Ear
By Richard Meyer

The letters that the FDA sent out in March caught a lot of DTC marketing people off guard. In short, the FDA warned pharma companies that adwords on Google could not have an indication and brand name without fair balance.

Some marketers and legal people assumed that as long as fair balance and safety information was only one click away they were covered, but the FDA had other ideas. Internet marketing, especially for health conditions, continues to evolve and it’s time for the FDA to research the way that consumers search and acquire health information online as well as to listen to the concerns of pharma marketers.

New Sheriff in Town?
The one-click rule was generally assumed to be OK when it came to paid search within Google. After all, in print ads readers usually have to turn the page to read the fair balance and safety information. Furthermore, the FDA has been lax in its enforcement of Internet DTC advertising. However, with more and more people going online for health information and fewer of them going to see their physicians, the FDA somehow decided it was time to review search terms on Google. Was the FDA trying to slap the hands of pharma marketers or was it putting DTC marketers on notice that there is a new sheriff in town?

As a result of the letters issued by the FDA, some pharma companies suspended their online advertising until they could review all of their online marketing to ensure that it was in compliance. The effect of these letters could be far-reaching as some of the more conservative marketers pull back programs that encompass new channels and methods of communication. Legal and regulatory people are sure to red-line more material now. And some progressive marketers who were planning to try new channels to reach empowered patients are sure to find the wall of approval harder to scale.

DTC Ads or Patient Education?
The FDA has never really issued any guidelines for marketing on the Internet. Are product websites, for example, considered DTC advertising or patient education? Organic search, the below-the-line results, can yield the same search results as paid search: indication and brand without fair balance, but the FDA didn’t say anything about that. At the recent DTC National Conference, DDMAC employees seemed to become flustered when someone asked about the one-click rule and its similarity to print advertising. DTC marketers will abide by any DDMAC rules, but should we have to learn these rules through trial and error?

Consumer packaged-goods marketers who are pushing the marketing envelope by using new channels like social media are finding success, but more importantly they are learning what works and what doesn’t work. With prescription drug sales so anemic, it could be argued that a new DTC marketing approach is needed, but it may be extremely difficult to execute with legal and regulatory people in fear of DDMAC. Some drug companies reward risk and understand that they need to push forward. Others are risk averse, frustrating patients, consumers, and DTC marketers.

Playing it by ear may be good for unregulated industries that can retool and relaunch campaigns, but the prescription drug industry needs progressive online marketing guidelines issued so that marketers can effectively communicate product benefits to the public.

Richard Meyer is President of Online Strategic Solutions (www.onlinestrategicsolutions.com), an Internet consulting company. He has worked in healthcare marketing for more than 12 years, and writes at www.worldofdtcmarketing.com and www.richsblog.com. He welcomes comments at richardameyer@me.com.