The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is monitoring the online marketing and sale of products that claim to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure the H1N1 influenza virus - and in at least one high-profile case - is ordering the well-established brand, doctor Andrew Weil, to cease marketing a product in this way.
As part of its enforcement activities, the agency, which issued a press release warning the public about illegal online flu drugs, recently purchased and analyzed several products marketed online as Tamiflu - or oseltamivir. Tamiflu and Relenza are the two antibiotics recognized as effective against the flu.
Phony Drugs Abound
The FDA found that a range of illegal 'Tamiflu' has become contagious online. Some of the targeted sites appear to be fly-by-night organizations set up to sell phony substances. One of the orders the FDA placed arrived in an unmarked envelope with a postmark from India, consisting of unlabeled, white tablets taped between two pieces of paper. When analyzed, they were found to contain talc and acetaminophen - but none of the active ingredient for oseltamivir. This particular website disappeared shortly after the FDA placed the order.
Other websites the FDA targeted did sell products containing various levels of oseltamivir but were not approved for use in the US.
For years the FDA and Federal Trade Commission have been targeting the marketing and sale of phony pharmaceuticals purported to be legitimate. Oftentimes these operations have uncovered - as they did in this case - the illegal sale of products that are at best ineffective and at worst, dangerous.
Weil's Remedy Targeted
The FDA's enforcement efforts against the online marketing of H1N1 flu cures are not limited to temporary and fraudulent sites, however. The FDA and FTC have also ordered popular author and natural health advocate Andrew Weil to stop marketing his Immune Support Formula as protection against H1N1.
"This product has not been approved, cleared, or otherwise authorized by FDA for use in the diagnosis, mitigation, prevention, treatment, or cure of the H1N1 Flu Virus," the agency said in its letter to the site.
The government's regulatory apparatus appears to be stepping up monitoring of online pharmaceutical and health care marketing in general. Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC) warned at least 14 major pharmaceutical manufacturers that the sponsored link advertisements for specific drugs were misleading because they did not adequately inform consumers about the drugs' associated risks.
The result was a significant decrease in the use of sponsored ads by pharma companies, according to comScore.
The FDA, for its part, is still determining its approach to direct-to-consumer drug ads. It has considered a range of proposals, including stopping the advertising altogether.
