Ad Age: FTC Suggests FDA Soften DTC Drug Ad Regulations

Warnings buried online,
but rules are fuzzy

Asked for advice by the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission told it that it should relax drug advertising restrictions. Currently, print advertising regulations require lengthy and tedious disclosures, where only a brief summary is required in television drug ads. There are no solid online advertising guidelines, even as pharmaceutical advertising has become a very large piece of the industry's spending.

The FTC suggestions included the formalization of online advertising policies, allowing for easier price comparisons in advertising and requiring celebrity endorsers to have real experience with the drug.