Durbin, Grassley Introduce Bill To Crack Down On Prescription Drug Advertisements, Boost Price Transparency

Durbin, Grassley Introduce Bill To Crack Down On Prescription Drug Advertisements, Boost Price Transparency

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), senior member and former chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, today introduced the bipartisan Drug-price Transparency for Consumers (DTC) Act, a bill that would require price disclosures on advertisements for prescription drugs in order to empower patients and reduce Americans' colossal spending on medications. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers accounted for 58 percent of Medicare's spending on drugs between 2016 and 2018, while a 2023 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that two-thirds of advertised drugs offered "low therapeutic value." By requiring direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs to include a disclosure of the list price, patients can make informed choices when inundated with drug commercials and pharmaceutical companies may reconsider their pricing and advertising tactics. In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has sued to keep the prices of their drugs out of their TV advertisements.

"Pharmaceutical advertising is a uniquely American phenomenon that contributes to the astronomical cost of prescription drugs. With billions of dollars in targeted spending, patients are bombarded with commercials for the latest 'wonder-drug' but kept in the dark about one crucial factor-price. This practice of pushing patients toward the most expensive drugs drives up the cost of health care while undermining the role of doctors. A healthy dose of transparency is the prescription Big Pharma needs," Durbin said. "Senator Grassley and I have introduced the DTC Act to shine light on the real costs of medications in these outrageous commercials."

"Knowing what something costs before buying it is just common sense," Grassley said. "Disclosing the list price of prescription drugs in advertisements is a no-nonsense way to empower health care consumers to make informed decisions about their care. It also spurs competition, which leads to lower prescription drug costs."

Each year, the pharmaceutical industry spends $6 billion in DTC drug advertising to fill the airwaves with ads, resulting in the average American seeing nine DTC ads each day. Studies show that these activities steer patients to more expensive drugs, even when a patient may not need the medication or a lower-cost generic is available. Studies show that patients are more likely to ask their doctor, and ultimately receive a prescription, for a specific drug when they have seen ads for it. For these reasons, most countries have banned DTC prescription drug advertising-the United States and New Zealand are the only industrialized nations to permit this practice.

Additionally, a Kaiser survey found that 88 percent of Americans support this price disclosure policy for advertisements.

Below are some key findings from the GAO report:

• Two-thirds of pharma's spending between 2016 and 2018 on DTC ads ($12 billion out of $18 billion total) was concentrated on just 39 drugs. During this period, these advertised drugs accounted for 58 percent of Medicare's spending on drugs ($320 billion out of $560 billion).
• In 2019, Humira had $500 million in DTC advertising, contributing to $2.4 billion in Medicare costs.
• Among the top 10 drugs with the highest cost to Medicare, four were also in the top 10 for advertising spending (Humira, Eliquis, Keytruda, Lyrica).

Cosponsors of the DTC Act include U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

The DTC Act is endorsed by AARP, American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, American Academy of Neurology, American College of Physicians, Patients for Affordable Drugs Now, and Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing.

For years, Durbin and Grassley have advanced legislative proposals to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose the list prices of their prescription drugs when choosing to run DTC advertisements, including passing a bipartisan amendment through the Senate in 2018.

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