Drugs

Senators Urge PhRMA to Support DTC Advertising Bill

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) are urging the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) to support their bipartisan Drug-price Transparency for Consumers (DTC) Act that would require price disclosures on prescription drug advertisements to “empower consumer choice and reduce patients’ bloated spending on medications.”

The legislation was introduced last week and currently has six co-sponsors. A Durbin statement says that in recent years the drug industry has sued to keep drug prices out of TV ads. “By requiring direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs to include a disclosure of the list price,” he said, “patients can make informed choices when inundated with drug commercials and pharmaceutical companies may reconsider their pricing and advertising tactics.”

In a 1/31 letter to PhRMA, the lawmakers cite a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found that “more than two-thirds of drugs advertised on television were considered ‘low therapeutic value.’ This creates concern for taxpayers, as a review we requested from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found prescription drugs advertised on television accounted for 58% of Medicare’s overall spending on prescription drugs between 2016-2018.”

President Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] has expressed interest in outright banning this practice, the letter notes. “It would be wise for drug companies to adopt commonsense solutions to address the concerns that have been raised about DTC prescription drug advertising… We urge you to take the reasonable, minimal step of embracing our bipartisan legislation to empower patients and providers and commit to voluntarily disclosing list prices in DTC advertisements.”

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FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton’s responses on vaccines, contraception and abortion medication during her 9/24 Senate confirmation hearing raise concerns that ideology could influence her decision-making if she takes over the agency, MSNBC senior medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta said Friday. Gupta was particularly critical of Overton’

Overton Confirmation Remains Uncertain After Senate Hearing

FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton emerged from her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday (see earlier story) without resolving questions about whether she has enough Republican support to advance — and with a rapidly narrowing window for confirmation before the midterm elections. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing provided few

FDA Classifies Boston Scientific Imager II Catheter Recall as Class I

FDA has classified Boston Scientific's recall of its Imager II Angiographic Catheters as Class I because a manufacturing problem could cause catheter tips to degrade and detach, potentially resulting in life-threatening complications. The agency announced the Class I classification 9/25, updating an Early Alert it issued

FDA Approves Gazyva for Childhood-Onset Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome

FDA has approved Roche’s Gazyva (obinutuzumab) for reducing the risk of relapse in adults and children aged 2 and older with frequently relapsing or steroid-dependent, childhood-onset idiopathic nephrotic syndrome who are in remission. The expanded approval covers the use of the CD20-directed antibody beyond its existing

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Gupta Raises Concerns About Overton’s Independence, Ideology

Overton Confirmation Remains Uncertain After Senate Hearing

FDA Classifies Boston Scientific Imager II Catheter Recall as Class I

FDA Approves Gazyva for Childhood-Onset Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome