On November 12 and 13, the FDA held formal hearings into the application of social media platforms to drug and medical device advertising. Over fifty presentations were made to an FDA panel, including WOMMA. On March 1, WOMMA submitted comments to the FDA on behalf of the membership. The experience of many WOMMA members involved with social networking and online communities clearly shows that social media plays a very strong usage around healthcare. The reasons are simple:
• Patients – and their family and friends – need emotional support regarding almost any illness or disease, from simply colds to terminal cancer, and they believe that they can best receive this support from people like themselves with similar experiences.
• The matters surrounding health care are complex, deep, and changing every moment, thus requiring constant and instantaneous education – which advances the needs of all stakeholders.
Furthermore, WOMMA members have overwhelmingly found that consumers have developed skills to navigate, engage in, and filter information, opinion, and relationships in social network environments. They have also found that consumers or citizens with health care concerns first go to the Internet to educate themselves and frame their thinking; and then they go to doctors or health care providers to focus their decisions and actions. Finally, WOMMA members have found that proactive participation by pharmaceutical and other health care companies assists the consumer in their education and decision-making, and that meaningful participation is desired by them.
Please read WOMMA’s comments by downloading the document here.
On November 12 and 13, the FDA held formal hearings into the application of social media platforms to drug and medical device advertising. Over fifty presentations were made to an FDA panel, including WOMMA. On March 1, WOMMA submitted comments to the FDA on behalf of the membership. The experience of many WOMMA members involved with social networking and online communities clearly shows that social media plays a very strong usage around healthcare. The reasons are simple:
• Patients – and their family and friends – need emotional support regarding almost any illness or disease, from simply colds to terminal cancer, and they believe that they can best receive this support from people like themselves with similar experiences.
• The matters surrounding health care are complex, deep, and changing every moment, thus requiring constant and instantaneous education – which advances the needs of all stakeholders.
Furthermore, WOMMA members have overwhelmingly found that consumers have developed skills to navigate, engage in, and filter information, opinion, and relationships in social network environments. They have also found that consumers or citizens with health care concerns first go to the Internet to educate themselves and frame their thinking; and then they go to doctors or health care providers to focus their decisions and actions. Finally, WOMMA members have found that proactive participation by pharmaceutical and other health care companies assists the consumer in their education and decision-making, and that meaningful participation is desired by them.
Please read WOMMA’s comments by downloading the document here.
