Purpose: Misperceptions of how the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates prescription drugs may affect how consumers assess the safety and efficacy of prescription drugs. The study objective was to survey the public on their knowledge of FDA oversight regarding prescription drug approval and advertising. Methods:In 2017, we conducted a nationally representative mail-push-to-web survey with 1,744 US adults.Results: Although most respondents (86%) knew that FDA approves prescription drugs, we found misperceptions about what that approval means. In addition, few respondents understood FDA oversight of prescription drug advertising, with approximately half of respondents reporting that they did not know whether FDA approved these ads or components of the ads, and several mis-reporting that FDA approves these ads (31%) or components of the ads (22%-41%). Conclusions: Enhanced collaboration and communication with the public by key stakeholders in this space could increase public understanding of the roles and responsibilities of FDA.

Purpose We examined direct‐to‐consumer (DTC) websites for brand‐name accelerated approval prescription drugs to determine whether and how accelerated approval is communicated to consumers. Methods From the 34 brand‐name prescription drugs under the Food and Drug Administration's accelerated approval pathway presubmission requirement for promotional materials in December 2016, we identified a sample of 26 that had active DTC websites. Two raters independently coded the websites for the presence, placement, content, and readability of an accelerated approval disclosure. Results Most (73%) of the websites contained an accelerated approval disclosure. Most of the disclosures (84%) included the basis for accelerated approval, whereas 68% stated that the clinical benefit of the product was unknown and 47% conveyed the need for additional research to confirm study findings. On average, the disclosures required at least a high school reading level, and most conveyed the information in medical terms. Conclusions Direct‐to‐consumer websites for brand‐name accelerated approval prescription drugs do not consistently communicate the accelerated approval information for the product to consumers in a prominent, comprehensive, or readable manner.