The New York Times with drug makers, a consumer watchdog group, the FDA, and Google about how a lack of specified rules for Internet marketing conflicts with the print and TV rules that the FDA currently applies to new media.

Fourteen pharmaceutical companies were warned by the FDA earlier this month for failing to include risk information in search ads. The consensus among communications professionals who spoke with PRWeek is that the FDA needs to develop a clear policy for digital communications. Search ads are used, in part, by pharmaceutical companies as part of a reputation management strategy.

The same sentiment was echoed in today’s story.

Mary Ann Belliveau, health industry director at Google, told the NYT that “… the sense in the industry was ‘that the F.D.A. sent letters about ‘you shouldn’t do this, you shouldn’t do that,’ as opposed to issuing clear digital guidelines that the companies should follow.’”

Now, companies will only use “generic-sounding Web addresses that redirect users to the brand’s site,” an allowance only made for pharmaceutical companies, and are questioning the FDA to evaluate the difference in online marketing techniques.

With technology changes on the horizon for the healthcare industry, Dell launched a social media site to generate ideas and solutions that would improve the improve the “delivery, efficiency, and quality of healthcare using IT,” the company said on April 6.

The site, called IdeaStorm for Healthcare and Life Sciences, is a branch of IdeaStorm, a brainstorming site which was launched in 2007.

Kerry Bridge, head of digital media communications for Dell, told PRWeek that the site is targeted at large healthcare organizations as well as influencers and key stakeholders in the healthcare blogging industry.

“It’s a huge social media community, specifically looking at healthcare IT,” she says. “And these are the people we want to be talking to, share ideas with. Dell would like to be a valuable member of that community.”

Dell plans to promote the site within healthcare social media communities, on its blog and company Web site, and through the newsletters that the sales force distributes.

“It’s definitely a stake in the ground,” she says. “…[to show] that we’re committed to the healthcare industry.

Much has been made about how to communicate with women, especially those who are considered healthcare decision makers, but an April 8 story in The Boston Globe at a look at the way men communicate health news.

The story says: “Men are raised with inhibitions or ‘rules of manhood’ that may keep them out of the healthcare system, Zoske explains. He says that most health messages are expressed in a ‘feminine form.’ The basic public health theme, he says, is, ‘Notice your body, pay attention when something isn’t working well, and seek help when needed.’ But, Zoske says, this statement doesn’t really speak to guys. He points out that men may be deaf to their body’s symptoms because they are brought up to ignore factors such as vulnerability and pain.”

Other key points include engaging men in a dialogue by letting them know that other men have similar symptons or ailments; communicating health messages by framing them in terms of safety, strength, and performance; and using numbers, statistics, and metaphors because men respond to those communications tools.

Ben & Jerry’s announced today it was behind the unsettling corporate site, Cyclone Dairy, a company marketing milk from 100% cloned cows. Part April Fool’s Day prank, part educational campaign, the fake site, which went up about two weeks ago, was created to drive awareness about the use of cloned animals in the food supply and advocate Congress create a national registry and tracking system. AOR Cone supported the initiative.

Clinical trial recruitment firms and the PR firms that offer this service are starting to look at social media as a means to better reach potential patients that may not be aware of certain trials, or that they could qualify for them.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times on the number of clinical trials that are postponed because enrollment numbers have not been met. And a March 10 Newsweek story at the types of social media networks that pharmaceutical companies are tapping into to recruit patients.

While Facebook and Web sites have been two major for pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies to recruit patients, one firm is eying Twitter - specifically because it is already a public forum, unlike a private Facebook page, says Carmen Gonzalez, manager of strategy and communications for Healthcare Communications Group.

“It’s a way to cut through the noise,” she notes.

The clinical trial recruitment firm recently drafted a set of guidelines to provide to clients who are considering Twitter as a part of their strategy.

Medpedia, an anticipated online health encyclopedia, launched this week. Much like Wikipedia, the site is free although Medpedia is edited and written by pre-screened health professionals only.

James Currier, founder of the project, told The New York Times that medicine is one of the least developed areas on the Web but has the chance to be the most transformed by it.

Mark Senak at Eye on FDA notes: “In time, with the right search engine optimization, Medpedia topics will be very high up on the Google search when a person enters in a specific drug name.  When given a choice of learning about the drug from (1) the manufacturer or (2) an objective third party source representing the finest medical schools in the country, patients and physicians are likely to gravitate to the objective resource.”

For drug companies and device makers, the wiki will present its own challenges. Senak says that, for example, pharmaceutical companies who not to get involved will find that their brands are shaped by the medical professionals who edit the companies’ drug and device information. He writes:

“[Medpedia] signifies another leap in the reality and reach of digital media while regulatory bodies around the world continue to pretend like nothing is happening. That leads to the second, which is that brand control, for companies not anticipating, analyzing and strategically responding to digital media developments, is becoming more and more elusive as the brand becomes shaped by digital media participants.”

YouTube seems to be the social media trend for Big Pharma so far this year. In the past week, both Sanofi-Aventis and AstraZeneca launched channels targeting specific diseases.

Sanofi’s , an unbranded effort that’s part of the “GoInsulin” campaign, personal stories of patients with diabetes and is the pharmaceutical company’s first YouTube venture. It does not mention Lantus, Sanofi’s insulin therapy; instead it offers general information about insulin.

AstraZeneca’s , considered the Symbicort brand channel, stories of patients affected by asthma. The company also launched a microsite, myasthmastory.com, although a spokesperson told PRWeek it is not part of a larger PR campaign for the asthma drug.

Mark Senak at Eye on FDA:

“Both of these efforts are breathtaking in that they appear deliberate attempts to break the stranglehold that regulatory concerns have had on social media in general and YouTube in particular.  They also both go way beyond what anyone has accomplished so far in terms of creativity and style and in an effort to engage patients.”

The two pharma companies join Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Labs, and GlaxoSmithKline in the YouTube space.

The Pfizer media machine continues, with the news that the pharma giant is conducting interviews with 250 members of the media to see how well the PR team is doing.

From BNET Pharma: “The remainder of the survey covers predictable territory: how well does Pfizer perform in terms of access, providing experts, executives, responding to deadlines, and the comprehensiveness of its web site.” Read more »

Media Mind just completed its annual survey of healthcare journalists, tallying their thoughts and views on pharmaceutical companies, insurers, agencies, and medical centers.

GlaxoSmithKline, WellPoint, Edelman, and the Cleveland Clinic came up as the top outlets for journalists to work with. Seventy-five top-tier journalists contributed to the survey, conducted from December 2008 to January 2009.

“There’s a lot of similarities with what the media is looking for,” says Tony Plohoros, president of the media relations firm. “They still want access, they still want responsiveness.”

He also noted that more than half of the journalists who reponded reported that more than half of their work is published online, rather than in print.

“We, as communicators, need to educate our clients that [online] is a great place to be,” says Plohoros.

Here’s a Q&A about last year’s survey.

Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, enhanced its pipeline with the announcement that it will Wyeth for $68 billion as part of the largest pharmaceutical deal in the last 10 years.

Branding the acquisition as the world’s premier biopharmaceutical company, Pfizer and Wyeth launched a Web site, which includes podcasts and vodcasts of the companies’ CEOs talking about the acquisition as well as information for patients and consumers, investors, and media.

But, the announcement also came with the that Pfizer would cut its work force by 10% and reduce the number of manufacturing sites while it prepares to lose half of its pharmaceutical revenue stream by 2015, when the patents for Lipitor, Viagra, and other medications expires.

Here’s a link to a video and two podcasts that features Pfizer’s Ray Kerins and Wyeth’s Gwen Fisher talking about social media, CSR, and drug safety communications at a PRWeek healthcare panel that was held in Philadelphia in November.