If you searched “weight loss” on Google, there’s a good chance one of the first results was the Ozempic website.
However, Ozempic is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for weight loss. It is approved only for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. So why does it appear there?
The answer is called a. boost Search results. Companies pay search engines to have their websites appear first when you type certain keywords or phrases.
“When people ask health questions, the first place they turn is search engines,” he says. Daniel Eisencraft Kleinresearcher Regulatory, treatment and legal programs at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“Pharmaceutical companies have figured out how to game that system through pay-per-click advertising, which is essentially a way to buy things that get you to the top of search results,” he added.
Pharmaceutical companies typically have to follow strict rules when advertising their products in magazines or TV commercials.
They must do things like disclose the risks or side effects of the drugs, and they cannot advertise the drugs to treat conditions that they are not approved by the FDA to treat, even though doctors may sometimes prescribe those drugs “off-label” to treat other conditions.
Doing so could get the company in trouble with the FDA. This is to prevent ads containing false or misleading content that could potentially harm someone.
However, online sponsored search results that typically appear above other results are not subject to the same regulations as TV ads. The law has not kept up with changing technology.
Eisenkraft Klein and his colleagues looked at the results of two years of paid searches for Ozempic sponsored by drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk.
them published research results It was published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.
They found that even though Ozempic is not approved for weight loss, 11% of the search keywords or phrases the company paid for contained the word ‘weight’.
They also found that Novo Nordisk paid for search results even when keywords mentioned its main competitors for drugs such as Trulicity and Mounjaro, both made by Eli Lilly.
“Novo Nordisk sponsored the search term ‘Kelly Clarkson weight loss,’ probably because people searching for celebrities and weight loss would be interested in their products,” says Eisenkraft Klein.
The researchers focused only on Ozempic for the study, and more research is needed to examine the results of support for other drugs and treatments, he said.
Still, Eisenkraft Klein said the study could have a lesson for consumers. “Don’t assume Google will show you the most relevant information. Just because it’s first doesn’t mean it’s the most objective or the most relevant.”
When conducting drug research online, he recommended scrolling through sponsor search results and looking for independent sources, such as academic medical centers.
Contacted by NPR for comment, Novo Nordisk spokeswoman Liz Skrbkova said in an email that the study misrepresents the company’s “paid search approach,” which uses “industry standard” features to reach consumers.
Novo Nordisk complies with U.S. laws and regulations as well as its own ethical standards. “So patients can find information about our medicines and make shared decisions about their treatment with their health care professionals.”
The United States is one of the only countries that allows direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs.
The Trump administration signed a memo in September asking the FDA to crack down on prescription drug advertising because companies were failing to disclose risks.
The FDA also sent a report. numerous letters of execution; Notify companies about drug advertisements.
The FDA is committed to ensuring that promotional communications about prescription drugs are “truthful, balanced, and accurate,” according to an email from Emily Hilliard, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency’s parent agency. She also encouraged people to report concerns to the agency. bad advertising program.
Google spokesman Nate Funkhouser made it clear in a statement to NPR: policy Prescription drug advertising: “Advertisers are solely responsible for ensuring that their advertising strategy, including all keywords and content, complies with regulatory requirements.”
