THEY SAID IT! U.S. REPRESENTATIVE DAVE TAYLOR CALLS FOR LIST PRICE TRANSPARENCY IN BIG PHARMA’S DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING
Lawmaker Highlights Broad-Based Support for Bipartisan Solution to Disclose Big Pharma’s Prices in Marketing Targeting Consumers
During a recent U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing, U.S. Representative Dave Taylor (R-OH-02) called on his fellow lawmakers to shine a light on the egregious prices set by Big Pharma on blockbuster brand name drugs, by advancing the bipartisan Drug-price Transparency for Consumers (DTC) Act. This commonsense solution to boost list price transparency was introduced in the U.S. House by Taylor and U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-09) in June. A U.S. Senate version of the bill was reintroduced by U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in January.
The 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.
“We’ve all seen drug commercials on TV, probably lots of them by now. You see everything in those commercials from people flying kites to people running on the beach,” Taylor said. “The one thing you never really see though is the price of the drug.”
Taylor noted the first Trump Administration recognized the value in requiring list price transparency in Big Pharma’s advertising directly targeting consumers:
“During the first Trump administration, [The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] HHS recognized this issue needed to be addressed. To promote price transparency, they drafted a rule that would have required pharmaceutical companies to include the list price of the drug in their advertisements.
Unfortunately, a federal court blocked the rule, stating HHS did not have the authority to institute that requirement, and Congress would need to act. I believe we need to give them that authority and that’s why I introduced the Drug-price Transparency for Consumers Act.
This bill would do exactly what the first Trump Administration was trying to do: require direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements to include the list price of the drug.”
Taylor highlighted the overwhelming support for this solution from American voters — across all political and ideological divides:
“Polling shows that 88 percent of Americans support this policy. Presumably the other 12 percent is made up of people who didn’t understand the question and pharmaceutical executives. The policy is widely supported by both Republicans and Democrats, patients and providers, young and old.”
Taylor’s comments track polling conducted by Trump campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio on behalf of CSRxP in February, which found:
- Eighty-six percent of voters support requiring drug companies to list the price of their drugs in direct-to-consumer advertising.
- Ninety 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.
Taylor concluded by calling on his colleagues to advance this bipartisan solution to better arm policymakers and the public with more transparency into the prices set by Big Pharma on the products they market:
“I think requiring price transparency in drug advertisements is an issue we have wide agreement on in this country I hope we have an opportunity to make good on people’s wishes in this Congress. I thank Congresswoman Schakowsky for co-sponsoring the bill with me, and I would love to work with you, Mr. Chairman, to bring about price transparency with this bill.”
Lawmakers should capitalize on the overwhelmingly broad-based support from American voters for greater list price transparency, and the demonstrated track record of bipartisan support in Congress, by advancing the DTC Act.
Watch Representative Taylor’s full remarks from the Energy and Commerce hearing HERE.
Read more on how Big Pharma’s DTC advertising increases costs for American patients, taxpayers and the U.S. health care system HERE.
Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.
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