Shed
Light on Drug Advertisements
By: Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dick Durbin of
Illinois
Chances
are that in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen approximately nine advertisements
for prescription drugs on television. That’s no mistake.
Each
year, pharmaceutical companies spend more than $6 billion to flood our airwaves
with drug ads. Every hour on television, an average of 80 prescription
drug ads are aired — resulting in the average American seeing nine each day.
Why do you see so many ads for prescription drugs? Because it works.
Patients are more likely to ask their doctor for a specific drug when they have
seen ads for it — whether they need it or not, or when a generic is available
instead. The result is that the 20 most-advertised drugs on television
cost taxpayers more than $24 billion in 2017.
With
billions in targeted spending, patients are bombarded with information about
the benefits of the drug as well as side effects, but kept in the dark on a
crucial factor: price. Most countries have banned direct-to-consumer drug
advertising. New Zealand and the United States are the only two countries
that allow this practice.
If
drug makers choose to advertise their medications, they should tell the whole
story and include pricing information. Not only will this empower patients
to make informed choices, such as whether a less expensive generic may be
available, but this will also force pharmaceutical companies to rethink their
pricing strategies.
Pharmaceutical
companies will argue that this basic price disclosure will cause confusion
because some patients pay different amounts. We have more faith in
patients. The price posted in the ad is set by the drug company. We invite
them to lower it if they aren’t comfortable sharing it with the public.
Faith
in American patients to be able to choose what is best for them is why we
teamed up on this issue last year. We wrote legislation to require price
tags in prescription drug advertisements, which unanimously passed in the
Senate. Unfortunately, that legislation did not pass the House. Thankfully, Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar decided to join our bipartisan
effort and advance it through regulation.
This
month, HHS used its existing authority to finalize these rules, giving
Americans some much-needed transparency when it comes to drug pricing. And
we applauded this action. Last week, we introduced legislation to codify
this regulation into law and ensure its long-term implementation. This is
a huge victory for health care consumers. Requiring pharmaceutical
companies to include the price of the drugs in television advertisements will
benefit consumers as well as spur competition, which will ultimately help lower
the price of prescription drugs.
Our
legislation is supported by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House
of Representatives. It also has the support of the AARP, American Medical
Association, American Hospital Association, insurers, 88 percent of Americans
and the Trump administration.
Moving
forward on this commonsense legislation is a no-brainer. It’s about time
Iowans, Illinoisans, and Americans across the country catch a break when it
comes to the sky-high cost of prescription drugs. Our bipartisan
direct-to-consumer price disclosure effort won’t solve everything, but it’s an
important step. Patients deserve transparency and we will continue our
legislative work to lower drug spending and see this rule implemented.
Grassley, Durbin Op-ed: Shed Light on Drug Advertisements
Shed
Light on Drug Advertisements
By: Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dick Durbin of
Illinois
Chances
are that in the last 24 hours, you’ve seen approximately nine advertisements
for prescription drugs on television. That’s no mistake.
Each
year, pharmaceutical companies spend more than $6 billion to flood our airwaves
with drug ads. Every hour on television, an average of 80 prescription
drug ads are aired — resulting in the average American seeing nine each day.
Why do you see so many ads for prescription drugs? Because it works.
Patients are more likely to ask their doctor for a specific drug when they have
seen ads for it — whether they need it or not, or when a generic is available
instead. The result is that the 20 most-advertised drugs on television
cost taxpayers more than $24 billion in 2017.
With
billions in targeted spending, patients are bombarded with information about
the benefits of the drug as well as side effects, but kept in the dark on a
crucial factor: price. Most countries have banned direct-to-consumer drug
advertising. New Zealand and the United States are the only two countries
that allow this practice.
If
drug makers choose to advertise their medications, they should tell the whole
story and include pricing information. Not only will this empower patients
to make informed choices, such as whether a less expensive generic may be
available, but this will also force pharmaceutical companies to rethink their
pricing strategies.
Pharmaceutical
companies will argue that this basic price disclosure will cause confusion
because some patients pay different amounts. We have more faith in
patients. The price posted in the ad is set by the drug company. We invite
them to lower it if they aren’t comfortable sharing it with the public.
Faith
in American patients to be able to choose what is best for them is why we
teamed up on this issue last year. We wrote legislation to require price
tags in prescription drug advertisements, which unanimously passed in the
Senate. Unfortunately, that legislation did not pass the House. Thankfully, Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar decided to join our bipartisan
effort and advance it through regulation.
This
month, HHS used its existing authority to finalize these rules, giving
Americans some much-needed transparency when it comes to drug pricing. And
we applauded this action. Last week, we introduced legislation to codify
this regulation into law and ensure its long-term implementation. This is
a huge victory for health care consumers. Requiring pharmaceutical
companies to include the price of the drugs in television advertisements will
benefit consumers as well as spur competition, which will ultimately help lower
the price of prescription drugs.
Our
legislation is supported by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House
of Representatives. It also has the support of the AARP, American Medical
Association, American Hospital Association, insurers, 88 percent of Americans
and the Trump administration.
Moving
forward on this commonsense legislation is a no-brainer. It’s about time
Iowans, Illinoisans, and Americans across the country catch a break when it
comes to the sky-high cost of prescription drugs. Our bipartisan
direct-to-consumer price disclosure effort won’t solve everything, but it’s an
important step. Patients deserve transparency and we will continue our
legislative work to lower drug spending and see this rule implemented.