TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

WebMD, FDA Create Partnership

ADVERTISEMENT

@tampatrib.com

Published: December 13, 2008

Popular Web site WebMD and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have teamed up to expand consumer health information available online.
WebMD is a health news and medical information source with about 50 million unique visitors a month. FDA officials say the partnership will help expand how it dispenses health alerts and other health information to the public. Highlights include:

•A new WebMD resource ( www.webmd.com/fda) that allows consumers to access information on the safety of FDA-regulated products, as well as learn how to report problems involving the safety of these products directly to the FDA.

•FDA public health alerts will go to all WebMD registered users and site visitors requesting them ( www.fda.gov/consumer).

•The FDA will contribute to WebMD The Magazine, distributed in doctors' offices nationwide.

The FDA points to the Internet as the fastest-growing resource for health information. A study from the Center for Studying Health System Change says 32 percent of American consumers, or 70 million adults, conducted online health searches in 2007, compared with 16 percent in 2001.

A staff report

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT