Few Comments Submitted to FDA Regarding Regulation of Internet

Although the FDA opened a docket on September 21, 2009, for public comment on regulating pharmaceutical company drug promotion on the Internet and social media (see "FDA Announces Public Hearing on Promotion of Drugs on Internet & via Social Media. This is NOT a Hoax!"), only TEN (10!) comments have been collected as of January 28, 2010 (maybe one or two more after that). This was revealed by DDMAC's Jean-Ah Kang in an interview with IgniteHealth's Fabio Gratton (see "A Conversation with DDMAC’s Dr. Jean-Ah Kang").

"Right now," said Kang, "we already have the 77 presentations from the hearing and the ten or so comments that have been submitted to the docket as of today [1/28/2010]."

At least 3 of those comments are mine! You can find all the comments on www.regulations.gov here.

Meanwhile, over 400 people have responded to my online survey/questionnaire, which asks the same questions as does the FDA. My questionnaire, however, makes it EASY for anyone to submit comments to the FDA. Many questions are pre-programmed with answers that you can select.

Results of this survey will be formally submitted to the FDA before the 28 February 2010 deadline. The submitted data will include all comments BUT will not include names or any other information that identifies who made the comments. The data will allow FDA to see if the comments come from consumers, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical company employees, or pharmaceutical vendor employees.

PLEASE TAKE SURVEY/QUESTIONNAIRE HERE: http://bit.ly/cyUoV5

After you complete the survey, you will be able to see a summary of responses, not including comments or other identifiable information about respondents.

Your comments are confidential (anonymous) and any contact information or identifying information you opt-in to supply at the end of the survey will NOT be submitted to the FDA.