Ross Fetterolf
VP OF DIGITAL STRATEGY | IGNITE HEALTH
Ross Fetterolf
|
This latest action from the FDA has resulted in confusion, a need for counsel, and conjecture at what might be next. In the short term, pharma pulled their paid search efforts, vacating the top sponsored listings and lowering the overall bid
price to command a high rank within the hierarchy of these results. This immediately opened the door to an unsavory mix of
natural remedies, blame-obsessed lawyers, and unsubstantiated Canadian pharmacies to move up and occupy these top sponsored
results—potentially posing a greater public health concern with respect to the information that patients are likely to receive.
A review of the violations yielded two very challenging results. First, the letters bring up specific grievances (omission
of risk information, inadequate communication of indication) that are often impossible to correct given the confines of paid
search advertising, leading many to question the FDA's full understanding of this medium. The "one-click rule," which had
always served to connect a paid search ad to a Web site that included the full indication and safety information, was pronounced
dead. And second, there is no formal guidance from the FDA on what is acceptable in terms of paid search or any other form
of online promotion. By far, the biggest consequence of these recent letters was to leave pharma marketers with a disquieting feeling of "what's
next?" Is paid search just the tip of a giant digital iceberg that could include many of the influential new channels that pharma
has started to embrace? Will our latest efforts on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter be the next to receive letters of violation?
Will this send us scrambling to abandon the vision of creating a sense of community with our patients? 
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