Senators Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) and Mike Braun (R-Indiana) are introducing legislation to curb deceptive prescription drug advertisements on social media platforms. 

The Protecting Patients from Deceptive Drug Ads Online Act seeks to empower the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with new authority to regulate online drug promotions by influencers and telehealth companies.

The Motivation Behind the Legislation

The proposed bill addresses a current limitation in FDA oversight, which restricts the agency’s ability to act against misleading posts unless there’s a direct financial relationship between the influencer and the drug manufacturer. 

Under the new legislation, the FDA could issue warning letters to influencers and telehealth companies promoting prescription drugs, regardless of their financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.

The bill targets posts that benefit influencers financially and contain false statements, omit facts, or fail to disclose risks and side effects. According to the drafted legislation, non-compliance with FDA warnings could result in fines.

Additionally, the act would require drug manufacturers to report payments made to influencers in the Open Payments database, expanding the existing model of disclosing physician payments to include promotional activities by celebrities and social media personalities.

Several patient and physician groups endorse the bill, including the American College of Physicians, which expressed strong support for the legislation as a means to address online posts that influence users to seek advertised drugs without appropriate warnings.

Social Media and Health

The senators’ initiative follows a surge in social media interest in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, primarily driven by influencers and telehealth companies rather than drug manufacturers. 

This trend extends beyond U.S. borders, with regulatory agencies in other countries, such as Australia, also taking action against unlawful online promotions of weight-loss drugs by telehealth companies.

In March, the Australian government also proactively fought vaping and misinformation among young people by partnering with popular influencers across various platforms. 

This influencer-led youth vaping campaign targeted individuals aged 14 to 20 to “spark a conversation with the next generation of Australians about the harms of vaping and nicotine addiction.”

However, recent research revealed that more than 90% of surveyed doctors were open to learning about new drugs and medical devices through social media channels.