Forget DTC; Get Ready for DFC: Using Social Media to Detect Safety Signals Direct From Consumers

The past decade has witnessed the importance of DTC pharma messages. With social media tracking and internet search signal detection, is the US at the edge of a DFC era? Will safety signals scraped from internet inquiries and social media conversations be the next wave source of drug safety concerns? A special subcommittee of FDA’s Science Board released a report at the beginning of May that advises FDA to pay attention to the opportunities from new media for picking up drug safety signals.