{"id":6628,"date":"2011-05-13T17:35:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-13T17:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.com\/how-fda-in-cahoots-with-doj-broug\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T01:20:55","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T01:20:55","slug":"how-fda-in-cahoots-with-doj-broug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/how-fda-in-cahoots-with-doj-broug\/","title":{"rendered":"How FDA, in Cahoots with DOJ, Brought Google Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

FDA\u2019s Infamous 14 Warning Letters were a Ploy to Force Google into a $500M DOJ Settlement Regarding Illegal Online Pharmacy Ads<\/b>
\n
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n<\/a><\/div>\n

\n\u201c\u2026something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how I\u2019m feeling today as I try to understand what\u2019s really behind the news about Google\u2019s advertising policies, online pharmacies, and FDA\u2019s 2009 warning letters to major pharmaceutical companies. If my thinking is correct, drug industry search engine ads were \u201ccollateral damage\u201d in a war between Google and the FDA.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google is \u201cclose to settling a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws\u201d (see \u201cGoogle Accepted Ads from Illegal Online Drug Stores<\/a>\u201d). <\/p>\n

Not so coincidentally, a few days ago, Google disclosed that it was setting aside $500 million to potentially resolve a case with the Justice Department (DOJ) that involved “the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation has examined whether Google knowingly accepted ads from online pharmacies, based in Canada and elsewhere, that violated U.S. laws,\u201d said the WSJ article. <\/p>\n

The FDA has long struggled to rein in American\u2019s penchant for buying drugs from online Canadian pharmacies and this investigation of Google by DOJ is likely part of that effort. But, as I surmise below, caught up in the case may have been legitimate major pharmaceutical companies as well.<\/p>\n

Consider FDA\u2019s infamous 14 warning letters that the agency mysteriously sent in a single day in March, 2009, to major pharmaceutical companies about Google Rx Adwords, saying the ads were misleading because they didn’t include risk information (see \u201cFDA Warns Drug Firms Over Internet Ads<\/a>\u201d). <\/p>\n

Could that have been a \u201cploy\u201d to bring Google to its knees and cave in regarding online pharmacy ads? <\/p>\n

In other words, the FDA\u2019s warning letters may have been a \u201cshot across Google\u2019s bow,\u201d intended to force Google to halt its acceptance of ads from \u201cillegal\u201d online pharmacies. FDA could have been saying, \u201cWhat\u2019s more important to you? Ads from online pharmacies or ads from major pharmaceutical companies?\u201d<\/p>\n

FDA\u2019s actions were a strong incentive because “sponsored link exposures to U.S. Internet users declined more than 50 percent immediately after … FDA warning letters were issued to pharmaceutical manufacturers,” according to a comScore study (see \u201cFDA Letters Caused a Prompt, Precipitous, & Prolonged Drop in Pharma Paid Search Engine Advertising<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s likely that this case goes way back because in September 2010, Google disclosed that it had filed a lawsuit against \u201cadvertisers we believe have deliberately broken our rules,\u201d in particular involving \u201crogue online pharmacies\u201d that \u201cillegally sell drugs on the Web\u201d (see \u201cGoogle\u2019s $500M Charge Related To Pharma Advertising Probe<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n

In June 2010, I reported that Google launched a NEW Rx drug ad format that includes everything FDA requires that a drug company include in its direct-to-consumer advertising: fair balance, and direct links to side effects, precautions, dietary information, etc. (see \u201cFinally, A Google Drug Search Ad Format That Has All FDA Could Want… But Pharma Can’t Use It!<\/a>\u201d). The \u201cads\u201d are really more like public service announcements. They come from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and compete with paid ads from pharmaceutical companies who cannot use the new format (see \u201cGoogle’s New OneBox Rx \u2018Ads\u2019 Steal Clicks from Organic Branded Rx Search Results<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n

To compensate for that deficiency, Google also has come up with a new ad format for the industry (see \u201cIs Google the New FDA?<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n

All of these actions by Google could be designed to appease FDA and DOJ and regain the drug industry\u2019s ad revenue lost as a result of FDA\u2019s warning letters way back in 2009. <\/p>\n

You have many contacts among the regulators
\nto get you facts when someone attacks your advertising
\nbut nobody has any respect, anyway they already expect
\nyou to all give a check to FDA and other organizations
\nAh you’ve been with the professors and they’ve all liked your looks
\nWith great lawyers you have discussed clicks and sidewikis
\nYou’ve been through all of Ayn Rand\u2019s books
\nYou’re very well read, it’s well known
\nBut something is happening here and you don’t know what it is
\ndo you, Mr. Pharma?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FDA\u2019s Infamous 14 Warning Letters were a Ploy to Force Google into a $500M DOJ Settlement Regarding Illegal Online Pharmacy Ads \u201c\u2026something is happening here and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?\u201d That\u2019s how I\u2019m feeling today as I try to understand what\u2019s really behind the news about Google\u2019s advertising policies, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[304,451,44,447],"topic":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow FDA, in Cahoots with DOJ, Brought Google Down - Pharma Marketing Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/how-fda-in-cahoots-with-doj-broug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How FDA, in Cahoots with DOJ, Brought Google Down - 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