Pharma and Social Media – What Does 2011 Hold?

2010 was the year in which the FDA had said they would issue some guidance on the use of social media by pharma.  It was also a year in which pharma companies made some tentative forays into social media, and experimented with allowing user generated content on certain websites that they controlled or sponsored.

So what will 2011 bring by way of guidance, and how much will it help?

It seems likely that the FDA will publish some guidance in this area early in the new year, although they have said that it will not be channel-specific (for example, they are not going to make specific recommendations about what you can or can’t do on Facebook).  This approach fits with what we hear from the PMCPA in the UK: the Code of Practice is clear about what you can and can’t do – apply it to social media channels as you would for any other material.

The FDA guidance will, no doubt, be a useful starting point and may give some companies sufficient comfort to make a start with social media channels for their marketing activities.

The PMCPA is due to publish some digital media Q&A shortly.  Given their guidance to date – in particular that it would be “impossible to guarantee [a blog’s] compliance with the Code” – the Q&A will be very interesting reading.  It seems likely that the Q&A will reflect the approach advocated by the PMCPA so far: take the Code of Practice and apply it to the new media.  If they do, this may not be what pharma was hoping for, but it will still be very useful, as it will demonstrate the approach that the PMCPA would expect companies to take.

Guidance from regulators in this area is of course to be welcomed.  In reality, the guidance is just another stage in the dialogue between industry and its regulators.  Industry will shape their social media strategy around – among other things - their interpretation of the guidance.  The evolution of the use of social media by pharma will then, we believe, be shaped by cases where complaints are made about a specific pharma company’s use of social media channels.  Some companies are more likely to push the boundaries than others, and it is the boldness of those companies that is most likely to provide guidance on some of the more difficult questions in this area.

2011 will be a significant year for pharma companies and their use of social media for marketing.  We will be following regulators’ guidance and the industry’s progress here, but if you want to find out our views sooner, then you can follow us through our own (highly regulated, of course) social media channels:

Twitter
@TaylorWessing  
@tim_worden

Lawyers Tim Worden