Makary Highlights and Adds to Momentum “Across the Political Spectrum” to Hold
Brand Name Drug Companies Accountable for Aggressive Marketing Practices That
Increase Prescription Drug Spending





 



THEY SAID IT!: FDA COMMISSIONER: BIG PHARMA’S BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT ON DTC
ADVERTISING “WOULD BE BETTER SPENT ON LOWERING DRUG PRICES”

Makary Highlights and Adds to Momentum “Across the Political Spectrum” to Hold
Brand Name Drug Companies Accountable for Aggressive Marketing Practices That
Increase Prescription Drug Spending



In case you missed it, U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty
Makary wrote an op-ed, published inThe New York Times
<[link removed]>
over the weekend, detailing how Big Pharma’s staggering spending on
advertising directly targeting consumers misleads American patients and
increases prescription drug spending. Commissioner Makary also called for
reforms and highlighted the bipartisan momentum to hold brand name drug
companies accountable.



“As a physician, I’ve had patients walk into my office to ask about medicines
they saw advertised. Rarely did the patient actually meet clinical criteria for
the drug, but sometimes I would learn that they got it anyway from another
source,” Makary wrote. “…The ads are also generally limited to expensive
medications, not generic or biosimilar alternatives that are orders of
magnitude less expensive. The United States leads the world in drug spending. A
nonstop bombardment of ads encouraging medications over lifestyle changes is
not a path to making America healthy again.”



Makary made the critical point that the staggering scale of Big Pharma’s
spending on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising (nearly$14 billion
<[link removed]>
in 2023 alone) increases prescription drug spending for Americans.



“Pharmaceutical companies may spend up to 20 to 25 percent of their budgets on
advertising and marketing, according to some estimates,” he wrote. “A2023 study
<[link removed]> in
the Journal of Public Economics estimates that direct-to-consumer advertising
drove about 31 percent of the rise in U.S. drug spending since 1997, when the
F.D.A. relaxed ad restrictions.”



Earlier this year, The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) released an
analysis
<[link removed]>
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.



“Whether driven by patient protection concerns or fiscal responsibility
principles, lawmakers across the political spectrum recognize that America’s
unique position as one of only two countries allowing widespread prescription
drug advertising demands serious reform,” Makary said. “Over the last several
years, drug companies have increasingly gamed the system. Those days are over.
We are taking drug marketing claims seriously and making our regulatory
standards transparent. We are restoring honesty and accountability in drug
advertising to protect patients and rebuild public trust. The billions of
dollars drug companies spend on advertising would be better spent on lowering
drug prices for American consumers.”



President Trump and the Administration have been calling for increased
attention to the role Big Pharma’s DTC advertising plays in increasing
prescription drug spending. In May, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for reining in Big
Pharma’s DTC advertising of prescription drugs during aninterview
<[link removed]> on “Special Report with Bret Baier
” on The Fox News Channel.



“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.”



The Administration
<[link removed]>
andlawmakers
<[link removed]>
, onboth
<[link removed]>
sides of the aisle, are right to be applying greater scrutiny to the
pharmaceutical industry’s aggressive marketing practices in the U.S. and their
impact on drug prices — and supporting solutions.



The bipartisan Drug-price Transparency for Consumers (DTC) Act, sponsored by
U.S. Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Durbin (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives
Taylor (R-OH-02) and Schakowsky (D-IL-09), is one solution Congress should
advance. This bill would require Big Pharma to disclose the price of their
products in advertising targeted directly to consumers. This would help shine a
light on Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices — arming policymakers and the
public with greater transparency into the prices set by manufacturers on
blockbuster brand name products, serving as a deterrent to price-gouging and
empowering patients with useful information as they weigh the best treatment
options for their individual health care needs.



Earlier this year, public opinion polling
<[link removed]>
of U.S. voters, conducted by Fabrizio Ward on behalf of CSRxP, found:

* 86 percent of voters support requiring drug companies to list the price of
their drugs in direct-to-consumer advertising.


* 90 percent of voters are concerned pharma companies spend billions of
dollars per year on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs,
oftentimes writing off their ad spending for tax purposes.
Policymakers should capitalize on the overwhelmingly broad-based support from
American voters, and bipartisan momentum among policymakers, to hold Big Pharma
accountable for staggering spending on DTC advertising of high-priced brand
name prescription drugs.



Read CSRxP’s full report on the taxpayer cost of Big Pharma’s DTC advertising
HERE
<[link removed]>
.



Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable
HERE <[link removed]>.



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