The Food and Drug Administration’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee will be holding a public meeting on April 30, 2009, and May 1, 2009, at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Advisory Committee Conference Room, in Rockville, MD. On both days the Committee will discuss the Agency’s draft risk communication strategic plan and will be asked for comment and further advice on strategic priorities for research on effective risk communication.

That draft plan describes FDA’s strategy for improving how the agency communicates about regulated products. The strategy is intended to guide program development and research planning in a dynamic environment where rapidly evolving technologies enable patients and consumers to become increasingly involved in managing their own health and well-being. FDA has been looking to improve how it produces communications about the risks and benefits of regulated products, as well as how it oversees those communications produced by regulated entities. For example, as the Internet and emerging technologies have both enabled and fed the public’s demand for greater transparency and communication frequency, the traditional waiting periods for FDA guidance have given way to communication in real time. Designing a contemporary risk communication strategy is key to FDA’s efforts to reposition itself to realize its potential for effective protection and promotion of health, enabled by 21st century knowledge and technology.

Effective communication supports both optimal use of medical products and safe consumption of foods to maximize health. The IOM report on The Future of Drug Safety: Promoting and Protecting the Health of the Public (2006) focused on drug safety, but also highlighted communication more generally, referencing FDA’s mission of helping the public get the accurate, science-based information it needs. In response to an IOM recommendation, FDA launched its Risk Communication Advisory Committee in 2007 to give advice about FDA’s risk communication approaches for all FDA-regulated products.

The FDA has begun to identify research needs in this area, including on the broad topics of:

  • When and what to communicate
  • Reaching the audience (dissemination)
  • Ensuring audience understanding
  • Motivating audiences
  • Evaluating effectiveness of communications