Washington, DC. – In 2014, the FDA mandated that a prescription drug’s benefit and risk information had to appear in its entirety when promoting via social media channels. With prescription drug benefits and risk information being much longer than what most social media platforms can withstand, Twitter being the most challenging, this has left most pharmaceutical companies and their marketing teams limiting or even avoiding social media promotion altogether.
The FDA recently announced they are conducting a four-part study to test how well participants retain risk information in the 140-character limit by adding a link rather than the traditional fair balance information needed in today’s world. Planning to test within the walls of Google-sponsored links and Twitter, the FDA plans to test fictional risk information for weight loss and migraine drugs by posting a link that will take the user to the necessary information. This study will last two months and could open many doors for an industry ripe to promote openly via social media.
Why This Matters –
With over 313 million monthly active Twitter users that send over 500 million tweets a day, it is not a shock that pharmaceutical companies want to play in this sandbox. And pharmaceutical marketers have tried many different approaches to leverage the character limiting platforms for their brands. This new study by the FDA is a promising sign that shows the FDA is listening and attempting to prove people retain risk information without all of the info being spelled out in front of them. While the FDA remains hesitant at the results, this could open a new door to a brands 2017 digital marketing strategy to increase exposure to a broader audience.
