November 14, 2025
TOPLINE
A recently released survey from The Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK) finds across party lines, Americans are deeply concerned with high prescription drug prices and overwhelmingly support reforming the pharmaceutical patent system to boost competition and lower prices.
According to I-MAK’s “Understanding Americans’ Top Concerns on Drug Pricing: Corporate Greed” survey, conducted by Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research, a 61 percent majority of American adults attribute high drug prices to corporate greed and profit-seeking behavior from Big Pharma. An overwhelming 80 percent support changes to U.S. patent laws to address drug pricing.
The findings come as Big Pharma continues to game the U.S. patent system and block competition from more affordable alternatives — enabling brand name drug companies to extend monopolies over their biggest money-makers and price-gouge American patients. Read more from I-MAK HERE.
And, in case you missed it, Big Pharma company AstraZeneca reported third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations — continuing a trend among major drug manufacturers posting strong profits on the heels of continuing to hike prescription drug prices this year. Read more on expectation-beating third quarter earnings from AstraZeneca HERE.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“While some skeptics dismiss patent reform as too technical or wonky for the American public to grasp, this survey confirms what we at I-MAK have long known: patent abuse only seems complicated because it has been kept in the dark.”
Tahir Amin, CEO, Initiatives for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge
DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
$307.1 Million
The amount Big Pharma spent on direct-to-consumer advertising in October, a new monthly record, according to reporting from Fierce Pharma.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@IMAKglobal: “The survey of 726 Americans reveals strong bipartisan support for healthcare reform measures, particularly patent system changes that could increase market competition and reduce drug prices. https://reports.i-mak.org/drug-pricing-concerns”
@Runaway_Rx: “Watch out for #BigPharma’s ‘Thicket Trap’ – a tactic used to prevent affordable, generic drugs from breaking into the market by creating a thicket of insignificant and overlapping patents. That’s not their only play! Learn more Big Pharma’s Patent tactics to keep drug prices high in our Big Pharma Patent Playbook: http://bit.ly/48FSzbi #TheProblemIsThePrice”
ROAD TO RECOVERY
Inside Health Policy: CSRxP: Big Pharma Earnings Watch: AbbVie, Amgen & Pfizer
This week, Big Pharma companies AbbVie, Amgen and Pfizer reported third quarter earnings that surpassed Wall Street analyst expectations. These strong earnings come following numerous price hikes from the companies on their best-selling products throughout the year. Several of the companies raised their guidance for the year. In fact, AbbVie’s CEO, on the company’s earnings call, said: “We’ve beaten and raised in every quarter in 2025.”
Inside Health Policy: I-MAK Survey Finds Four In Five Americans Support Patent Reforms To Lower Prescription Drug Prices
In case you missed it, a recently released survey from The Initiative for Medicines, Access, and Knowledge (I-MAK) finds across party lines, Americans are deeply concerned with high prescription drug prices and overwhelmingly support reforming the pharmaceutical patent system to boost competition and lower prices. According to I-MAK’s “Understanding Americans’ Top Concerns on Drug Pricing: Corporate Greed” survey, conducted by Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research, a 61 percent majority of American adults attribute high drug prices to corporate greed and profit-seeking behavior from Big Pharma. A massive 80 percent support changes to U.S. patent laws to address drug pricing.
PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS
Bloomberg: Drugmakers Pile Into a Cancer Gold Rush With Questionable Payoff
In one of the biggest cancer spending sprees in years, pharmaceutical giants are pouring billions into developing treatments linking old drugs together — with little proof they can help patients live longer.
It’s an industry gold rush based on a tantalizing prospect: a new class of treatments that might dethrone Merck & Co.’s Keytruda, an immunotherapy used in a range of cancers and one of the world’s best-selling medicines. The drugs aren’t based on a breakthrough discovery. Instead, they combine versions of Keytruda and Roche Holding AG’s Avastin into a single drug. With the individual therapies, combinations have been tested repeatedly with limited success in prolonging lives.
Fox Business: Top 5 Most Expensive Drugs For Consumers
President Donald Trump put pharmaceutical CEOs on notice, demanding they lower drug prices or he promised to get involved. He penned a letter to 17 CEOs in July, outlining what he wants from the pharma industry to cut expenses for consumers. In many cases, Americans are paying higher prices for drugs that treat common conditions, while customers in foreign countries pay less.
Fierce Pharma: TV Ad Spending Skyrocketed To New Heights In October, Led By Record Outlay For J&J's Tremfya
After spending much of the year sloping steadily downward from a January peak, TV drug ad spending picked up in a major way last month. The combined outlay for the top 10 brands in October weighed in at $307.1 million, according to data shared with Fierce Pharma Marketing by iSpot.TV. Not only does that far outweigh recent months’ totals, which hadn’t crossed the $200 million threshold since June, but it also blows past the record high of $302.5 million set in January. The sudden spike was somewhat to be expected: 2025’s monthly spending totals have largely followed a pattern set last year—albeit on a ramped-up scale—where a high-flying January was followed by a steep drop-off before the numbers soared to new heights in the final three months of the year.
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