Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., wants to kill the tax break drug companies get on money they spend on TV and magazine advertising.
The senator introduced a bill Thursday that would eliminate the ability of drug manufacturers to fully deduct the cost of advertising their products from taxes.
“Drug companies have too much influence in Washington,” McCaskill said in a statement. “So it figures we are one of the only nations in the world that allows both advertising of prescription drugs to consumers and allows those ads to be subsidized by taxpayers.”
The U.S. and New Zealand are the only two nations that allow drug companies to advertise directly to consumers.
McCaskill said drug prices in the U.S. are too high and that drug companies devote more money to advertising and marketing than to research and development. Drug companies often defend high prices by saying they need to recoup high research and development costs.
