• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 11, 2009

The Interactive Advertising Bureau is urging federal regulators to endorse the use of standard formats online to notify consumers about the potential risks of medication.

"Standardization is important for optimal use and consumer understanding," the IAB will state Thursday in a presentation to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency is slated to hold hearings Thursday and Friday about online ads for pharmaceuticals.

The IAB aims to launch a process to help develop formats for different types of online ads, including sponsored links, banners, and video spots. The group envisions involving advertisers and agencies, the FDA and the public at large in the drafting process.

Mike Zaneis, vice president for public policy at the IAB, says in an email to Online Media Daily that the organization is "suggesting to the FDA that standardization in this broad ecosystem is vital if pharmaceutical advertising is going to continue to grow and live up to the FDA's legal requirements."

In March, the FDA sent 14 warning letters to major pharmaceutical companies alleging that their search ads were misleading because the ad copy touted the benefits of drugs without also informing consumers about risks and contraindications.

For instance, the FDA flagged a Google search ad for Cephalon's Fentora that read simply: "Learn about treating breakthrough pain in patients with cancer."

The FDA alleged that such ad copy was deficient because it implied that all cancer patients with breakthrough pain could use Fentora. The agency said that implication was misleading because the drug is only indicated for people who can already tolerate around-the-click opioid therapy.

Other companies to receive warnings were Bayer, Biogen Idec, Sanofi Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Forest Laboratories, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, Genentech, Merck and Hoffman-LaRoche.

Drug companies responded to the letters by sharply curtailing their use of search ads, according to comScore. Between March and June, the volume of sponsored links for pharmaceuticals dropped by 84%, the research company reported.

A host of other organizations and companies are expected to testify this week, including Yahoo, Google, Digitas Health, WebMD, Nielsen, Waterfront Media, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and Consumers Union.