US FDA swoops on YouTube "DTC abuse"

The US Food and Drug Administration has demonstrated its willingness and ability to police social media marketing by drugmakers with a series of actions taken against them and medical device manufacturers. The move coincides with the announcement of a joint venture between the federal regulatory agency and WebMD, possibly the most read health care and drug-related web site in the world (www.webmd.com).

Peter Pitts, president of the pharmaceutical industry-supportive think-tank the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, welcomed the action taken by the FDA against UK drugmaker Shire Pharmaceuticals, asking it to take down a YouTube video for Adderall XR, which the agency considered was overstating the hyperactivity drug's effectiveness while omitting risk information.

"Here's the denouement: social media must play by the same regulatory rules as pre-social media," Mr Pitts said. Shire's claim that it "did not intend to post the video" on the video-sharing web site raises questions, the CMPI president argues, about "the general rigor with which company marketing actions in the social media space are debated and monitored."