Hillary Clinton believes TV commercials touting new drugs contribute to high drug prices, but the Democratic frontrunner’s plan to curb such ads may not do the trick, some experts say.
Clinton unveiled a plan this past week to combat rising prices, proposing reforms long championed by Democrats such as allowing Medicare the power to negotiate over drug prices.
Her plan also took on consumer TV ads of drugs. It stops direct-to-consumer advertising subsidies and makes drug companies reinvest marketing dollars into research and development of new drugs.
“Almost every country in the industrialized world bans or severely restricts direct to consumer advertising because it increases prescription drug costs, and can include confusing, misleading or incomplete information or exaggerated claims if not regulated effectively,” her campaign said.
But proposing a plan and getting it implemented is another story. Congress has continually thwarted attempts to hinder or further regulate direct-to-consumer ads.
“Congress typically decides that any business has a right to talk about their product to whoever they want,” said Daniel Mendelsohn, the CEO of the health research firm Avalere Health.
Mendelsohn said that there wasn’t much new in Clinton’s plan, and that a push toward demonstrating the value of a drug would be a better move.
“That is what health plans are expecting of drug companies at this point,” Mendelsohn told the Washington Examiner on Friday. “To get your drug approved by a health plan you have to show the value to specific populations and that is where the commercial market is going.”
The Clinton campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
The goal of Clinton’s plan is to shift resources from marketing to research and development, which could have an indirect impact on prices in the future, said Len Nichols, a health economist and professor at George Mason University.
“Shifting resources from marketing to R&D at least increases the chances we’ll have more innovation and competition in the long run,” he told the Examiner on Friday.
Another expert said consumer advertising is far from the only form of marketing drug companies use. Some companies rely much more on promoting their products directly to doctors through a sales force, a process called “detailing.”
“The government does regulate that type of marketing as well, but it represents a much bigger chunk of spending than television ads aimed at patients,” said Michael Sinkinson, a professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Mendelsohn said some drugs are advertised to consumers more than others. An antibiotic routinely used in a hospital, for instance, wouldn’t need to hit the airwaves, he said.
Clinton would also change how the Food and Drug Administration regulates ads by requiring any prescription drug ad to be cleared before reaching the public.
The FDA has the authority to regulate prescription drug ads to consumers, but not over-the-counter product ads. Federal law prohibits a drug maker from making a misleading or inaccurate ad.
The agency, however, currently doesn’t have a program that reviews a drug ad before it reaches the public. “We see many ads about the same time the public sees them,” the agency said on its website. “Many drug companies voluntarily seek advice from us before they release TV ads.”
However, if the agency is made aware of an ad in violation then it can go after the drug maker. Normally the agency sends the drug maker a letter asking for the ad to be stopped or corrected.
Common violations include ads that don’t disclose all of the product’s risks, or tout an unapproved use. The agency has also tried to tackle social media advertisements. Posts on popular social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter have to include risk information.
That is what got reality TV star Kim Kardashian in trouble earlier this year. An Instagram post for a birth control drug she was promoting neglected to include any risk information.
Clinton’s plan was unveiled a few weeks after Clinton’s closest competitor, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, issued legislation that tackles high drug prices.
Sanders’ bill does not include anything on consumer ads, but does include some of the same reforms in Clinton’s plan.
Her plan was also unveiled amid a public backlash against Martin Shkreli, who dramatically raised the price of a decades-old treatment for parasites.
