Medical Marketing & Media‘s Matthew Arnold reports that the FDA’s marketing and advertising wing asked a number of major drug manufacturers to pull sponsored links touting various drugs in Google because the brief 90-character messages omitted risk information.
An agency spokesperson said in an email to MM&M that companies are subject to rules regarding disclosure of risk and other information “even if they choose to do so using a promotional vehicle that has space limitations,” and suggested that unbranded pieces or reminder promotions might serve as alternatives for space-restricted formats. Reminder promotions can feature the name of a drug but not indications, dosage recommendations or other representations of safety or effectiveness, but are not allowed for drugs that, like Cymbalta, carry boxed warnings.
