FDA cracks down on what it calls deceptive drug advertising

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday sent about 100 cease-and-desist letters to drug companies with ads deemed deceptive, the agency said. The administration also began a rulemaking process to change requirements for disclosing drug risks in broadcast and digital ads, it said.

Current law for such advertisements, set in 1997, allows companies to include general statements about risks of a medication—then point viewers to a website, phone number, or other source for full information, according to the Health Department. That practice is a loophole that fuels inappropriate drug use and erodes public trust, the FDA said on Tuesday.

The FDA also said that while all social media posts advertising pharmaceuticals highlight their benefits, only about a third mention the drugs’ potential harms. And 88% of advertisements for top-selling drugs are posted by individuals and organizations that don’t meet FDA fair balance guidelines, it said. The FDA would use artificial intelligence tools and other methods to review drug ads going forward, it said.

How many warning letters does the FDA send to drugmakers per year? Prior to the last few decades, the FDA issued more than 100 warnings every year, the administration said. But that number dropped recently, falling to one warning in 2023 and none in 2024.

Dig deeper: Read my story about the expiration of a Washington, D.C. late-term abortion facility’s license to perform such procedures.