US Consumers Don’t Know Where To Start With OTC Drug Fact Labels, Most Look Online For Help

 
• By Malcolm Spicer

“We created a warning wallpaper, which means it looks like one block of overwhelming warnings,” says drug labeling expert Julie Akers. Technology has changed the world with nonstop access to information on multiple devices from myriad digital sources, but DFLs remain one-dimensional, static media.

Adding extra-label digital components to OTC labeling is ahead in the US, but some improvements could help the current format, but labeling expert Julie Akers has recommendations for improving the current DFL format. • Source: Concentrics Research/FDA webinar

US consumers are asked to understand a “wallpaper” of information on OTC Drug Facts labels, but most use little of it and rely more on what they find online, says drug labeling expert Julie Akers.

“The labels have gotten packed with more and more over the years and they are untenable for most consumers,” said Akers during a recent Food and Drug Administration online workshop...

“The effects of the dense label are that one does not really quite know where to start,” added Akers, president and CEO of pharma industry consultancy Concentrics Research LLC.

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