"Americans are among the few people in the world bombarded with advertisements for medications most of us don't need New Zealand is the only other country that allows direct-to-consumer drug advertising. These policies have given pharmaceutical companies significant influence over consumer behavior when it comes to health. The executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week is an attempt to force these companies to be more transparent about the side effects of their products and hopefully draw necessary attention to the increasingly insidious ways the industry reaches consumers."
"But the order is meaningless without tough enforcement. Let's hope the Food and Drug Administration, already struggling under the weight of massive layoffs, has the resources and leadership to follow through. The president isn't asking for an all-out ban, but is instead reinstating 1990s-era regulations that required companies to spell out the often comically long list of possible side effects associated with their products."
"Those guidelines were loosened in 1997, when the FDA said companies could instead summarize the main side effects and direct the public to other sources for more information. Pharma feeds media Pharma was quick to take advantage of the softened rules. Spending on ads has ballooned, reaching about $10.1 billion in 2024, according to MediaRadar. That's made the industry's money vital to the media ecosystem: Television networks take in roughly half of the total direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad budget."
An executive order seeks to reinstate stricter pharmaceutical advertising rules requiring fuller disclosure of drug side effects. The United States and New Zealand permit direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Loosened 1997 FDA rules allowed companies to summarize side effects and direct consumers elsewhere. Pharmaceutical companies increased DTC spending to about $10.1 billion in 2024, making ad dollars central to television and media revenue. DTC advertising has demonstrably influenced medication choice, particularly among older Americans. Effective reduction of industry influence depends on vigorous enforcement by the FDA and adequate resources and leadership. The American Medical Association called for a DTC advertising ban in 2015.
#direct-to-consumer-advertising #pharmaceutical-regulation #fda-enforcement #drug-advertising-spending
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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