CorpComms Magazine

America's healthcare watchdog the Food and Drink Administration (FDA) has issued new draft guidelines to pharmaceutical companies for how they should interact with consumers on social media.

The move comes five months after many drugs companies abandoned their Facebook pages after the social networking giant stopped giving them the option to shut off public comments. The companies complained that, without guidance from the FDA, they did not know how to handle social media chatter appropriately.

The new draft guidance encourages drugs companies to guide consumers seeking advice through social media, such as Twitter or Facebook, to the appropriate departments for private one-to-one briefings. Unsolicited requests for information, such as doctors asking for additional details on other uses for specific drugs, should also be answered in a non-public forum.

The FDA suggests that these briefings should be science based and answer only the questions posed.

But the proposed guidelines do not include any insight into whether pharmaceutical companies are liable for information posted by third parties on social media sites that they operate.

The FDA is accepting feedback on the proposed guidance until 26 March.

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