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FDA Up In Arms About Redirects

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently sent 14 pharmaceutical companies notices that their search campaign violated FDA regulations, according to John Mack. One example points to "vanity" and "redirect" URLs in Google AdWords, which Mack writes Google doesn't allow.

It appears, according to Mack, that Google has made an exception to its policy by allowing pharmaceutical marketers to create AdWords that mention drug's benefits without including the drug name. "Consumer might be 'fooled' into thinking they were going to an independent site and not to a pharmaceutical company site," Mack writes. "Would they be harmed? Probably not."

Read the whole story at Pharma Marketing Blog »

2 comments about "FDA Up In Arms About Redirects".
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  1. Fabio Gratton from ignite HEALTH, April 13, 2009 at 7:37 p.m.

    I am not sure this summary/headline is accurate -- since when was the FDA "up in arms" about re-directs? The FDA made no such comment/reference in their warning letters, and John did not say the FDA did in his blog. Did I miss something here?

  2. John Mack from VirSci Corporation, April 14, 2009 at 7:10 a.m.

    It's correct that FDA made no comment on "redirects" in the letters and I did not say that it did. The headline of this article, therefore, is inaccurate although the article itself states the facts correctly, it implies that FDA is going after use of redirect URLs. There is no evidence for this at the moment, although I do raise the possibility that it may become an issue in the future only because WITHOUT guidance from the FDA, no-one knows where the line will be drawn in the future.

    I urge your readers to weigh in on the issue of FDA Internet and social media guidance by taking my survey: "Should FDA Convene a Public Hearing on Use of Social Media by Pharma?" http://tinyurl.com/c9ogsc

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