A comparative legal analysis of social media advertising of drugs in Germany and the United States.

Pharmaceutical companies use social media such as Facebook and Twitter more and more to advertise their products. Advertising of medicinal products especially in social media is a critical issue confronting patient protection, competition law and ethical concerns in direct-to-consumer advertising. Advertising in the World Wide Web must take into account national and international regulations, depending on which user from which country will have access to the information posted. Different legal requirements, if any, regulate the advertising of medicinal products. This paper discusses, challenges and compares the requirements and regulations of advertising medicinal products in social media, such as Facebook, in the United States on a federal level and the European Union with Germany as a reference Member State. Social media are very active and fast moving. Therefore, it is challenging and necessary at the same time to set guidelines and regulations for the use of social media in drug advertising. This paper is a first step toward promoting an international, consistent approach when talking about regulating advertising of medicinal products in social media.