In June 2016, Ms. Johnson posted a photo of her and her family, along with an image of her holding two Diclegic morning sickness pills, according to the report. The post contained the following caption:
“Y’all, I’m finally enjoying my pregnancy! So grateful to my readers who told me about #Diclegis (doxylamine succinate/pyridoxine hydrochloride)!”
The partnership represents Duchesnay USA’s second attempt to use a celebrity’s large Instagram following to market a product. In July 2015, the drugmaker paid reality star Kim Kardashian West to post about Diclegis. The company received a warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration about the post since Ms. West did not include any information about the drug’s risks.
“We misinterpreted the way we were expected to do one certain piece of the post, so we acknowledged it and retracted it,” said Dean Hopkins, general manager at Duchesnay USA. “With Emily, we made no mistakes. We were able to take what we learned with Kim and transfer it over to our other initiatives.”
Duchesnay USA is not the only drugmaker harnessing the power of social media. Medtronic and Novartis both have corporate Instagram handles and use the platform to interact with more than 14,000 followers each, according to the report.
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