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FDA Issues Guidance to Combat Medical Misinformation Online

Posted on by darion

The new draft guidelines, titled: “Addressing Misinformation About Medical Devices and Prescription Drugs Questions and Answers,” outline how healthcare companies should respond when a third party shares false or misleading information. Source: Shutterstock / JRdes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated its official guidelines to combat misinformation about medical devices and drugs spread by celebrities and online influencers, providing guidance on how healthcare companies should counter false information posted online.

The new draft guidance, titled “Addressing Misinformation About Medical Devices and Prescription Drugs—Q&A,” outlines how health care companies should respond when a third party shares false or misleading information about an FDA-approved product, illustrating the types of misinformation found online that a company may choose to address with what the guidance calls “personalized communications.”

The revised guidance includes examples of earlier medical information, such as how AIDS patients were directly impacted in the 1980s and 1990s by misinformation spread through traditional media channels about the nature of the disease’s spread. The FDA cites the need to prevent the same levels of harm now that medical misinformation has become more accessible and tailored through apps like TikTok and Twitter.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said, “The regulated industry plays a critical role in providing consumers with accurate information about medical products. We have updated our draft guidance to provide further clarity and additional flexibility for the industry to quickly and proactively issue communications that respond to misinformation they see.

“The spread of rumors about science and medicine continues to put patients and consumers at risk. We remain steadfast in our commitment to addressing this public health issue and continue to support and encourage all parties in the public health ecosystem to take an active role.”

The statement follows research conducted by the British Medical Journal Name of the scientific medical journal found that posts tagged #ozempic were viewed almost 250 million times on the popular social media app TikTok. These posts typically feature young women advocating for the use of medications like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic. Meanwhile, research from GlobalData found that the drug is quickly becoming one of the most talked about medications on social media.

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This comes after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was forced to combat dangerous misinformation about products during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly a spike in people buying the antiparasitic drug ivermectin.

The draft guidelines outline how companies may want to bypass the influencer or source of disinformation and contact the social networks directly to seek clarification or remove the offending post altogether. The draft guidelines remain open for public comment for 30 days.