News Briefs March 28, 2008
The online network is being launched by a nonprofit group called the iHealth Alliance, which is operated by Medem Inc., while the alerts will be focused by specialty and will be limited almost exclusively to alerts that drug makers send out in "Dear Doctor" letters: significant drug-label changes, warnings and recalls, reported the Wall Street Journal.
Until recently, drug companies felt bound by federal regulations dating back to the pre-Internet era that described how to send these types of communications through a paper-based system, while the FDA issued guidance in 2006 saying the rules were outdated and that it was acceptable for the messages to go out by e-mail, the Journal noted.
Drug makers will pay to use the new system, which will be free for doctors and won't include any drug-company marketing materials, while doctors who don't sign up for it will continue to receive the notifications through the mail, the Journal added.