Partner Lori Leskin Weighs In on the Use of Social Media by Drug Companies in Law360

Law360 reports that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wrote a letter to supplement company AMARC Enterprises Inc. reprimanding it for its use of social media to market its products. The FDA accused AMARC of using social media to make and promote claims that their supplements could cure or prevent cancer, despite not being approved as drugs. The FDA zoned in on a specific post to AMARC’s Facebook page that claimed their products had “kept cancer at bay,” which was then “liked” by the company. The FDA has yet to issue official guidelines as to the appropriate use of social media by pharmaceutical companies, making this warning letter to AMARC the closest thing the industry has received to guidance on the issue.

According to the Kaye Scholer Partner Lori Leskin, Co-Chair of the firm’s Product Liability Group, the warning letter "shows that the FDA is monitoring social media and people have to be careful in what they do and say.” However, Leskin continues to point out that "The FDA is looking at the presence of companies on the Internet, but they're doing it piecemeal, and they're not providing guidance.”