SEC Charges FDA Chemist With Insider Trading

Now is the time to face a reality that most Pharma brands have never really admitted to themselves … that guidelines are unlikely to come anytime soon simply because it is not urgent for the FDA to focus on. In the meantime, the FDA will continue to prioritize the more important activities they are responsible for - and any significant guidance is unlikely to come in the near future until something forces the FDA to treat this as a more urgent request.


 

  marketwatch.com :

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday charged a U.S. Food and Drug Administration chemist with insider trading on confidential information about announcements of FDA drug approval decisions. The chemist, Cheng Yi Liang, traded in advance of at least 27 public announcements about FDA drug approval decisions involving 19 publicly traded companies, the SEC alleges. The trades generated more than $3.6 million in illicit profits and avoided losses, the SEC said.

This lack of guidance has meant that pharma brands are forced to operate in the dark when it comes to social media. The lack of guidance has led to many misunderstandings and angst over warning letters sent for digital marketing efforts, and as a result many valuable patient education efforts have been stalled in the hopes that guidelines would be coming soon.
Most thought leaders working in social media for pharma brands will share that there is already a way to use social networks and tools to offer value to patient communities, support HCP communications and otherwise make a positive impact in communications. The lesson any pharma brand should take from this latest delay is that waiting for some guidelines is no longer a viable alternative to moving ahead with the strategic use of social media.

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