Saturday

New Media and Government: This Week’s FDA Hearing on Social Media

1 Comment Post by smitht | November 7, 2009 – 11:57 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

This week presents another milestone for new media and government as the FDA holds a public hearing on: “Promotion of Food and Drug Administration-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tools.” FDA announcement

Without getting into a lot of inside baseball about the many issues and opportunities that surround Direct to Consumer (DTC) advertising online, these hearings represent a profound and positive shift in the relationship between government, industry and the public. Should Pharma companies be able to interact freely online with individual patients who use their products? What types of disclosures do they need to make? What about Twitter posts that mention side effects of branded treatments? – where do lines get drawn on regulated accountability? We have seen a lot of very positive impact of the administration in both acknowledging and embracing new media and I’m delighted to see the public invited and engaged. Government agencies are getting with the times and recognize that the transformation of media can mean improved citizen engagement and empowerment (see Help Design the New FCC Website).
In the spirit of using the media to improve the process and increase transparency , some of those testifying are posting their testimony online and encouraging crowd sourcing of comments from industry and the public. Here is an example of this from my company: Health Central FDA testimony
And one more thing, taking a chapter from the White House New Media team, this event will be webcast to the public as well so it is not just for those inside the beltway…Live Webcast Details Here