Ending Pharmaceutical Advertising: Time to Prioritize Public Health Over Profits

Shifting funds from marketing drugs could help lower drug costs for all

The US is one of only two countries (along with New Zealand) that allows direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs and there’s growing concern about the impact it has on both public health and healthcare costs.

Big Marketing Budgets Lead to Big Drug Prices

In 2016, a record year for pharma TV ads, more than 70% of advertising was spent by big pharma ($5B). In 2023, the pharmaceutical industry in the United States spent around $15.58 billion on advertising, which is a 21% increase from the previous year. That amounted to an average of more than one billion dollars monthly by the end of 2023.

AbbVie was the biggest spender in the top 10 pharmaceutical DTCs in 2023, spending $861.4 million across its ads for Vraylar, Skyrizi, and Rinvoq. Eli Lilly spent $114.8 million on its new type 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro, and GSK spent $114.4 million on its respiratory disease therapy Trelegy. 

Source: https://www.vox.com/2015/2/11/8018691/big-pharma-research-advertising

Nine out of 10 major pharmaceutical companies spent more on sales marketing than researching new drugs. In 2016 the BMJ Journal wrote that drug companies spend 19 times more on marketing than they do on research and development.

Source: https://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e4348

This practice has nothing to do with marketing to consumers and everything to do with buying influence. Our news outlets are now majority funded by pharma. And more than two-thirds of Congress, seventy-two senators and 302 members of the House of Representatives, cashed a pharma campaign check in 2020. Overall, the sector donated $14 million helping to fund the campaigns of nearly half the lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Ending direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs is a proposal that could reshape the pharmaceutical landscape in the US.

Here are some reasons why ending DTC advertising might benefit society:

Reducing Consumer Pressure and Misleading Information:

• Manipulating Demand: DTC advertising often creates demand for medications that may not be necessary for consumers, leading to overtreatment. This can contribute to the over-prescription of drugs, especially those with side effects or risks that may not be fully understood by the public.

• Misleading Portrayal: Advertisements may downplay the risks associated with certain medications or overstate their benefits. This can result in patients requesting specific drugs from their healthcare providers without fully understanding the potential consequences.

• Inadequate Education: Rather than providing in-depth, scientifically rigorous information, DTC ads often focus on emotional appeals or oversimplified messaging that does not properly educate consumers on the true nature of a drug’s safety and effectiveness.

Fostering a More Evidence-Based Approach to Drug Development:

• Reallocation of Funds: The billions spent on advertising could be redirected to research and development. Pharmaceutical companies have enormous marketing budgets, and if these funds were invested in conducting independent, thorough clinical trials to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of drugs, it would likely lead to better, more reliable medications.

• Transparency in Safety: Instead of spending money on advertising to encourage patients to demand drugs, these companies could focus on conducting and publishing transparent, peer-reviewed safety studies. This could help ensure drugs are tested under real-world conditions and lead to better patient outcomes.

Shifting Focus from Marketing to Patient Care:

• Provider-Driven Decisions: By removing DTC advertising, healthcare providers would be able to maintain their role as the primary decision-makers regarding treatment options, rather than being influenced by consumer-driven demands.

• Less Commercial Influence: With less emphasis on persuading consumers, the medical community could shift its focus toward patient needs, basing treatment choices on the latest scientific evidence rather than marketing strategies.

Preventing Unnecessary Spending:

• Healthcare Costs: Direct-to-consumer ads encourage patients to ask for specific brand-name drugs, many of which are more expensive than generic alternatives. If these advertising expenditures were reduced, the overall cost of healthcare could decrease, benefiting both individuals and the system as a whole.

• Insurance Premiums: The high prices of drugs, partially driven by the advertising costs, often end up getting passed on to consumers through higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.

• Lower Drug Prices: The most direct benefit of reallocating marketing funds would be lower drug prices. If pharmaceutical companies reduced their advertising budgets, they could pass on the savings to consumers in the form of lower prices. This could be especially beneficial for high-cost prescription drugs, where marketing adds little to the actual value or efficacy of the product but significantly drives up the cost.

  

Public Health Benefits:

• Encouraging Public Health Approaches: Without the overwhelming presence of pharmaceutical advertising, there may be greater space for public health campaigns that focus on prevention, education, and healthy lifestyle choices. These programs could target the root causes of many chronic diseases, leading to long-term improvements in public health.

• Fostering Healthy Skepticism: Patients may develop a more cautious and informed approach to drug use, making it more likely that they will consult with their healthcare providers and consider alternatives before opting for potentially harmful or unnecessary treatments.

Conclusion:

Ending DTC advertising would help prioritize public health over corporate profits. With pharmaceutical companies free to invest in more rigorous safety studies and focus on evidence-based treatments, patients and healthcare providers would benefit from more accurate information and better decision-making. This would lead to a healthier, more informed society and could potentially drive down healthcare costs in the long term.