Dec. 14, 2017 – At a drug pricing hearing held this week by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, a representative of the National Academies of Sciences told the panel that the cost of drug advertising must be factored into the price of a drug product, and that Congress should act to end the tax deduction for drug advertising to discourage direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads, according to a recent article in Bloomberg Law’s Pharmaceutical Law & Industry Report.

In response to this proposed ban on DTC advertising, Coalition for Healthcare Communication Executive Director John Kamp told Bloomberg that such a move would suggest “that consumer ignorance should be preferred to consumer information and involvement in healthcare decision making.” He noted that “yes, advertising costs money, but classic economic theory says that advertising also increases competition and lowers costs.” Read the full article here: https://www.bna.com/aim-advertising-cut-n73014473112/