From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is touting a bipartisan federal bill that would require prescription drug advertisements to include price disclosures.
The Madison Dem this week announced she and other senators have introduced the Drug-price Transparency for Consumers Act, arguing the change would “empower patients” and reduce consumer spending on medicines.
The release cites a Government Accountability Office report showing prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers made up 58% of Medicare’s drug spending from 2016 to 2018. Of the industry’s $18 billion total spending during that period on direct-to-consumer drugs, $12 billion was focused on 39 drugs, the report shows.
And four of the top 10 drugs with the highest cost to the Medicare program were also among the top 10 drugs for advertising spending: Humira, Eliquis, Keytruda and Lyra.
The announcement also notes the pharmaceutical industry spends $6 billion in direct-to-consumer drug ads annually, with the average American seeing nine such advertisements every day.
Baldwin argues these messages often drive patients to “the most expensive drugs, not the most effective ones,” and calls for more transparency.
“I am proud to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to shed light on Big Pharma’s tricks to gouge Wisconsinites and help lower costs,” she said in a statement.
See more in the release below.
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