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# DTC Drug Pricing Amendment Shot Down on Hill
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/dtc-drug-pricing-amendment-shot-down-on-hill/
- Published: 2018-09-17T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T00:32:13.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5142367

House Republicans last week derailed a Trump-supported amendment to a health care spending bill that would have required drug companies to include prices in their direct-to- consumer advertising. Last month, the Senate passed the bipartisan amendment introduced by Sens. **Chuck Grassley** (R-IA) and **Dick Durbin** (D-IL) that would have provided Health and Human Services with $1 million to implement rules requiring pharmaceutical companies to list prices of their prescription drugs in direct-to-consumer advertisements. “The amendment helps to empower patients, promote transparency and lower prescription drug costs,” Grassley said in a [release](https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/durbin-grassley-amendment-passes-senate-take-big-pharma?ref=fdaweb.com) at the time. The amendment was part of the Defense-Labor-HHS-Education appropriations “minibus” package.

Lawmakers and aides say that during a conference committee that was finalizing the spending measure, House Republicans objected to the amendment. Durbin complained that drug company influence killed the provision. “When are we going to stand up to Big Pharma?” he asked. Shortly thereafter, Grassley sent a tweet saying: “It is EMBARRASSING to bow to BIG PHARMA at expense of consumers.”

  
Last month, Washington Legal Foundation litigation division senior counsel **Cory Andrews** said the notion of including list prices in drug direct-to-consumer ads could not survive a First Amendment challenge and is outside of FDA’s regulatory authority ([see story](https://www.fdaweb.com/rule-on-price-info-in-dtc-ads-illegal-wlf/)).