Medical misinformation kills.
It poses a critical threat to public health — sowing confusion, breeding mistrust, and adversely affecting health-seeking behavior. Moreover, medical misinformation does not only exact high monetary costs; it also puts lives at risk. Worse, it has grown with an unprecedented speed and scale.
Over the years, unregistered medical products have taken over social media. This made the Philippines, dubbed the social media capital of the world, particularly susceptible to the deluge of misinformation. Among those that circulated were ‘virginity soaps’ and untested medicines for conditions such as arthritis, hypertension, and even eye diseases.
Through no fault of their own, the Filipino patient is an exceptionally vulnerable target to medical misinformation. With the rising costs of healthcare, they understandably find solace in accessible and affordable cures, stumbling their way into ubiquitous medical misinformation.
False hope, real harm
At its best, the proliferation of bogus medical products has led to useless purchases of ineffective cosmetic products and supplements. At its worst however, such promotion has prompted patients to turn away from evidence-based treatments.
This has been the unfortunate case for cancer patients who fell prey to these false “cures.” Several cancer patients reportedly delayed chemotherapy and spent their money instead on food supplements advertised as “cancer cures” — eventually causing them to shell out more money.
Intravenous glutathione or more known as “gluta drip” also made rounds around social media for skin whitening, despite being only proven and permitted as an adjunct treatment in cisplatin chemotherapy. Such unauthorized use of gluta drip risks toxic effects on the liver, kidneys, and nervous system, skin cancer, and in one documented case, death.
Medical misinformation takes lives. This is no more exemplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein misinformation about vaccines escalated the spread of the virus, undermined public health efforts, and led to widespread vaccine hesitancy and reduced vaccination rates.
While medical misinformation has existed for a long time, it undeniably experienced a sharp uptick during the pandemic. During the period when access to information was a matter of life-or-death, misinformation, along with disinformation, paralleled the spread of COVID-19 in what came to be known as “infodemic.”
A common theme in the infodemic is the endorsement of ‘wonder drugs’ that can supposedly treat COVID-19. In the Philippines, pandemic mismanagement and slow vaccination campaigns fueled the citizens’ desperation for a miracle cure, leading them to Ivermectin. Ivermectin, a common anti-parasitic drug, has been touted as a cure to COVID-19 in spite of the global evidence, endorsed by several public officials and even physicians and other members of the health sector.
Worse, the pushback from regulatory agencies was weak and inconsistent– no more exemplified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the national agency in the Philippines responsible for licensing, monitoring, and regulating cosmetics, drugs, and foods, among other products.
While the FDA initially cautioned against the use of Ivermectin due to the lack of official trial results, they later on approved the unregulated use of the drug to six hospitals on the basis of ‘compassionate use’. It is therefore not an understatement to say that the FDA’s ambivalence on this critical matter has fueled the proliferation of medical misinformation.
Less ambivalence, more vigilance
Even after the pandemic has ceased, infodemics have persisted. Fake medical products continue to proliferate in social media networks, and yet the FDA continued to be passive, claiming that their powers are limited.
The FDA claims that they do not have “specific policies addressing cases of social media accounts selling unregistered and unverified health products” since online selling platforms are not within their jurisdiction but of other agencies, such as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).”
There are also no existing guidelines for implementing the section of the FDA Act of 2009 that mandates them to go after companies or individuals falsely promoting products online.
According to them, they seek to finalize drafting the guidelines by mid-year 2025. However, this is too long a wait.
The time to act for the FDA is now. The FDA can no longer resign to complacency. Rather, they must take on a more active role in regulation, in fulfillment of their mandate. Medical misinformation is more than an alarming trend; it is a lethal phenomenon that will never go away unless fought head-on.
Furthermore, the FDA must be at the forefront of empowering other actors in combating misinformation. Recently, the U.S. FDA updated their guidance towards the industry in proactively responding to misinformation, titled “Addressing Misinformation About Medical Devices and Prescription Drugs: Questions and Answers.” The guidance supports the medical product companies in addressing internet-based misinformation from third parties.
This step can be emulated by the Philippine FDA, prompting the industry to take up this role as part of their commitment to safe, effective, and quality medicines and products for all. With proper guidance from the FDA, companies can conduct their own fact-checking and flag untested, unregistered, and therefore unregulated products.
The Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP) and Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations (PAPO) must also play a central role in urging and advising industry to adhere to these guidelines, aligned with their mandates to advance and strengthen ethical principles in healthcare.
Beyond that, the FDA, with the support of PHAP and PAPO, must also empower consumers not only in terms of discerning misinformation but to be more active in reporting. The involvement of consumers in medical safety through consumer education and empowerment can bolster medical regulation in the country. Through accessible consumer reporting mechanisms, consumers can directly participate in drug safety surveillance, filling in the gaps in adverse event reporting.
It is high time that we view consumers not as passive recipients of (mis)information but as active participants in pharmacovigilance. After all, health is everyone’s business.
The pharmaceutical industry must commit their directors, personnel, and resources to monitor misinformation and disinformation about their products, actively correct it in public, and ultimately protect science and society. – Rappler.com
The authors are with the Health Governance and Security Program of the Ateneo Policy Center, School of Government, at Ateneo de Manila University. Kenneth Y. Hartigan-Go is the Senior Research Fellow and Melissa Louise M. Prieto is the Research Assistant III and Program Coordinator.
The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ateneo de Manila University.