Drug prices in TV ads bill blocked

WASHINGTON (WAND) — U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) Tuesday on the Senate floor to request unanimous consent to pass their 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 excess spending on medications. U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) objected to the unanimous consent request.

In 2018, Durbin and Grassley asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to look at the impact of these direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads on Medicare’s budget. In 2021, GAO released a report on the impact of DTC advertising, which found that prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers account for 58 percent of Medicare’s spending on drugs. The DTC Act would require DTC advertisements for prescription drugs and biological products to include a disclosure of the list price, so that patients can make informed choices when inundated with drug commercials.

The United State and New Zealand are the only two countries which allow prescription drug ads on television. (The above information is from a Sen. Durbin news release.)