THEY SAID IT! RFK JR CALLS FOR REINING IN BIG PHARMA’S STAGGERING SPENDING ON DTC ADVERTISING OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
HHS Secretary Highlights How Big Pharma’s Marketing Strategies for High-Priced Brand Name Drugs Impose Huge Costs on Taxpayers
In case you missed it, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for reining in Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs during an interview on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on The Fox News Channel last week. The interview followed meetings between the secretary and executives for major pharmaceutical companies last week.
“I met with pharmaceutical companies yesterday and had a very frank discussion with them on ways to limit TV commercials,” Kennedy said. “When you advertise a pharmaceutical product, it’s the government that is the one most likely going to pay for that product… you get a tax deduction to put that ad on TV, so that federal taxpayers are paying for the ad, then they’re paying for the product.”
“We’re the only nation in the world that allows that kind of advertising on TV,” Kennedy continued. “We’re a complete outlier. There’s one other country like New Zealand that allows limited [DTC advertising] but nothing like we do.”
Earlier this year, The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released an analysis that found taxing or prohibiting DTC ads for the ten largest pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. would result in increased federal tax revenue between $1.5 and $1.7 billion per year. Read the full analysis HERE.
Additional Key Facts on Big Pharma’s DTC Advertising
Price Hikes and Big Ad Spending Go Hand-in-Hand: For several of the pharmaceutical industry’s best-selling products, Big Pharma repeatedly hikes prices while pushing these drugs to consumers via DTC ads. This combination drives up spending for consumers and the entire health care system. Take Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer’s blockbuster blood-thinning drug Eliquis, for example. The brand name drug makers have spent more than $1 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising for the drug since 2013. Meanwhile, the drug makers have increased the drug’s price by at least six percent per year for ten years. When Eliquis came to market in 2013, it carried a monthly price tag of $250 – but in 2022, the list price for a one-month supply of Eliquis was $529, more than double when it came to market.
DTC Advertising Can Lead to the Overutilization of Expensive, Older Meds: As a 2023 Forbes column highlights, DTC advertising can contribute to “the (over)use of higher-cost drugs over generics and less expensive alternatives,” which can lead to increased spending on prescription pharmaceuticals.
One-Third: In fact, one JAMA Network research paper from January 2023 found that advertising spending on drugs considered having “high therapeutic value” accounts for fewer than one-third of all DTC pharmaceutical advertisements. As the paper states, “[d]irect-to-consumer advertising is associated with use of higher-cost drugs over generics and less expensive alternatives.”
7 out of 10: An October 2021 study from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) found that seven of 10 of the largest pharmaceutical companies by revenue spent more on sales and marketing in 2020 than R&D.
Listen to the full Fox News interview HERE.
Read CSRxP’s full report on the taxpayer cost of Big Pharma’s DTC advertising HERE.
Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
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