I came across this rather innocuous looking story in MM&M today about the FDA considering a requirement that would add a toll-free number to all DTC TV ads to allow consumers to report adverse events. The full text of the news alert is here:
“The FDA is weighing requiring DTC TV ads to carry a toll-free number for adverse events reports and is surveying 1,600 consumers to find out what they think, the Associated Press reported. The requirement would dovetail with one already in place for print ads, but some at the agency are concerned that a toll-free number would distract viewers from risk information. The survey will test ads for a fictitious blood pressure drug, AP reported, with an eye to how the placement, wording and timing of the statement impacts comprehension and recall.”
This is a teaser of “Seriously. We Don’t Like TV Ads” — FDA
. Click here to read the full post: (570 words, ~2:17 minutes reading time)
Within the last week, a company called Medinteract launched an interactive tool that you can use to determine if you have early signs of Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s called the ALZselftest. According to the company’s press release, the test is based on one developed by “Dr. John H. Dougherty, a leading neurologist, founder of Medinteract, LLC and Medical Director of the Cole Neuroscience Center at UT Medical Center in Knoxville.”
This is a teaser of An Interactive Test for Alzheimer’s Disease…Got 20 Bucks?
. Click here to read the full post: (1061 words, 2 images, ~4:15 minutes reading time)

Before we go too far, I thought I should share with you the Digital Rules that are important to any healthcare brand. Without these, pretty much anything else I’ve got to say isn’t going to mean much to your brand. Call this the required list and everything else I’m about to tell you the optional list. If you don’t do the required things, then the optional things won’t matter much.
These rules I developed were actually published in Pharmaceutical Executive magazine this summer under a title I never liked but they created, Exercising Your Brand. (You can download it here.) Yes, that is my picture…nice lighting, right?
This is a teaser of The Digital Rules…First Things First
. Click here to read the full post: (1044 words, 1 image, ~4:11 minutes reading time)
Thanks for joining me on this important journey. I know it’s a corny beginning, but we are going to learn some things together in the coming years or whenever digital technologies stop being important. Since that should be a while, I think we’ll have a lot to discuss for quite a while.
This is a teaser of Welcome Readers to Dose of Digital
. Click here to read the full post: (327 words, ~1:18 minutes reading time)