Another gag rule from the FDA

I've already posted many times about how FDA gags pharmaceutical companies -- preventing them from making many kinds of claims, even if true, about their products. But I didn't know until today that the FDA's coercive power extends to journalists as well -- the agency forbids reporters from consulting outside experts with regard to embargoed news.

Let's talk about what a news embargo is, first. A company or organization wants certain news released, but it wants to control the timing of when that news is released. So it enters into voluntary agreements with reporters: You get the scoop in exchange for promising not to release that news until an agreed-upon date. So far, so good; we have a voluntary agreement between reporters and companies or trade groups. (We'll leave aside the case that the need for an embargo may have arisen because of an FDA requirement that a company not publicize its offerings prior to a certain date; in that case, the FDA is clearly violating rights, but the embargo itself remains a voluntary agreement.)

But the FDA has decided to meddle with this process, forbidding reporters to consult with third-party experts about embargoed news. This means that the reporter, who is likely a well-educated layman with respect to the drug or device he's reporting on, is not allowed to verify the story he's about to print with someone who is more qualified to evaluate the claims being made. As the Association of Health Care Journalists puts it, "Reporters who want to be competitive on a story will essentially have to write only what the FDA wants to tell the world, without analysis or outside commentary." That's a clear violation of free speech.

The FDA needs to butt out of healthcare communications entirely. It's scary that the arm of the state reaches beyond forcing pharmaceutical companies and medical device makers to denounce their own product, and into making the press say what it wants.