Kyle Faget Weighs in on FTC Oversight of Medical Marketing Claims

Foley & Lardner LLP partner and regulatory attorney Kyle Faget provided insights into the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s growing focus on health care advertising in the Inside Telehealth article, “FTC Chair: Targeting Gender-Affirming Care As Unfair Trade Practice Doesn’t Encroach On Practice Of Medicine.”

Faget noted that while the FTC has authority to regulate advertising, efforts to extend that oversight to physician-patient communications may overstep legal boundaries. Though the FTC can step in if there is scientific evidence showing that certain advertised procedures or medications are known to harm patients, she said that any claim made by the agency must be supported by valid scientific evidence.

“That leads to an even bigger question — is FTC actually an agency that is in a position to make that assessment of whether or not a claim is substantiated?” she added.

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