FDA’s Regulation of Internet Promotion and Advertising

When internet use accelerated in the late 1990s, some observers predicted that the new technology would add an impossible burden to FDA’s regulation of promotion and advertising. The World Wide Web made possible nearly instantaneous global transmission of information about medical products. It appeared that FDA might be forced to rethink its entire approach to regulating advertising and promotion, especially promotion of off-label uses. Indeed, in October 1996, FDA held a public meeting to discuss how this revolutionary new medium should be regulated.