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Web Giants Urge FDA to Update Ad Guidelines

FRIDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Internet giants Google and Yahoo have lined up with the pharmaceutical industry in asking the U.S. government to draft new rules that would give drug companies more latitude to advertise online.

Current U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations require that any mention of a drug's benefits must also reveal its risks, including detailed lists of side effects. But drug makers and Web companies attending a two-day hearing this week on online marketing of medical products said the rule hampers them, given online space constraints.

"We need to get some adjustment to the way the medium is used because it's very different from print and broadcast -- that's the main challenge," Yahoo Vice President David Zinman said in an interview Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

With room for only a few words on advertising links, the Web marketers say they can't hail the benefits of their products.

Yahoo and its competitor, Google, are proposing new types of ads -- ones that would carry links to detailed drug information.

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