March 25, 2019 – Several moves that could change the way prescription drug marketing and communications are conducted are being made in Washington, with the House Ways and Means Committee about to begin markup on a tax measure that could include eliminating the deductibility of drug marketing costs, and the Office of Management and Budget […]
Read more
Feb. 25, 2019 – Even as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services considers comments received on a federal proposal to mandate the inclusion of the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of prescription drugs in consumer television ads, the state of Oregon is weighing whether or not to require a disclosure regarding the wholesale cost that […]
Read more
Feb. 11, 2019 – Last week Johnson & Johnson announced that it would include both the list price of a drug and information about what patients realistically might expect to pay out of pocket for its drugs in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads by the end of the first quarter, starting with Xarelto, its most-prescribed medication. This […]
Read more Feb. 5, 2019 – Patient and disease advocacy groups have weighed in on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to require that drug companies list the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) for their drugs in televised direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads. Their comments to CMS raise issues about whether the proposed rule asks for disclosure […]
Read more
Jan. 29, 2019 — Although industry trade groups filing comments on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposal to require including the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) in television ads for prescription drugs were largely agreed in their positions against the idea (as reported here), comments from physician organizations and specialty groups were more […]
Read more
Jan. 15, 2019 – In comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding its proposal to require that drug companies include the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of a drug in direct-to-consumer (DTC) television ads, industry trade groups and pharmaceutical companies largely are in agreement that doing so would confuse consumers, that CMS […]
Read more
Dec. 17, 2018 – The Coalition for Healthcare Communication (CHC) finds the recent proposal to require drug list prices in direct-to-consumer (DTC) television ads “detrimental to the interests of both health providers and patients,” and raises numerous practical and legal concerns to support that position in its official comment filed Dec. 14 with the Centers […]
Read more
Dec. 10, 2018 – The Health and Human Services (HHS) proposal to require that drug companies include drug list prices in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads could potentially confuse patients, and it also could cause patients to defer treatment because of the misleading price tag, according to Robert Zirkelbach, EVP of public affairs, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers […]
Read more Nov. 19, 2018 – In a featured “Perspective” article in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) this week, Stacie B. Dusetzina, Ph.D., and Michelle M. Mello, J.D., Ph.D., state that although providing cost information about prescription drugs is valuable, mandating that companies use the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads “raises substantial […]
Read more Oct. 16, 2018 – Yesterday morning, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) announced a program under which member companies would refer patients to online information about medicine costs in direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads. But then yesterday afternoon, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar made clear that this effort would not […]
Read more