Facebook aims to sell ads to drugmakers

San Francisco: Facebook will host a summit in June that is dedicated to health and aims to sell ads to the pharmaceutical industry, a media report said. According to a report in CNBC on Friday, the invitation-only summit is part of an initiative for advertisers called "Facebook Health", run by a small team reporting into former Google Director Meredith Guerriero. The summit primarily focuses on gearing marketers in the pharmaceutical industry. "It is expected that Facebook Health may unveil tweaks to the ad product, so pharma companies can more easily plug themselves on the platform. It could focus on mobile video, as that's been a major focus for the team," the report quoted an anonymous source as saying. According to reports, Guerriero is hosting a session in late June with Carey Reynolds, a marketer with the drug maker Allergan, to discuss how pharma companies can form "stronger connections between patients" through Facebook. "Our source said that Google and Twitter hired large teams to work with pharmaceutical companies on ad campaigns, but Facebook hasn't had a real seat at the table until the past year," the report added. The pharmaceutical industry in the US works under strict regulations when it comes to promoting its drugs on social channels. A drug company might target a person who has "liked" an advocacy page, or fits a certain demographic profile. "But it would not be allowed to target ads to specific people based on a disease that Facebook knows or suspects they have," the report added.