Let Patients Decide: Banning, Over-Regulating Drug Ads Hurts Choice and Competition

In recent years, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs has come under fire. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have intensified regulation of these ads. Worse, lawmakers like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angus King (I-Maine), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have introduced legislation to outright ban pharmaceutical ads.

Banning these advertisements outright – or regulating them into oblivion – would crush competition and keep patients in the dark. Consumers do not need government bureaucrats gate-keeping medical information.

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) simply relays information to consumers. Like all ads, they must be truthful and not misleading. Outside of ensuring this basic standard, government bureaucrats have no business deciding what medical information Americans are allowed to see in ads.

DTCA empowers patients to play a meaningful role in their own care.

One poll notes that 55 percent of consumers say they have requested a specific prescription drug from their doctor after seeing an ad. Presumably, for many, this led to life-improving care they otherwise would not have gotten. Far from undermining the patient-doctor relationship, these ads strengthen it by prompting informed conversations.

When patients are aware of treatment options, they are better equipped to advocate for themselves. All without government officials deciding what information they are allowed to see.

Outside of just increasing sales of a specific drug, DTC ads play a key role in informing patients of pertinent medical information, increasing doctor visits and diagnoses, and destigmatizing certain medical conditions.

Unbranded disease awareness campaigns make up 15 percent of DTC spend. Further, 33 percent of adults report looking for health information related to symptoms mentioned in TV ads immediately after viewing. Studies show that “DTC advertising increases the use of both promoted drugs and nonadvertised generic competitors through both increased treatment initiation and improved medication adherence.” As shown by researchers from John Hopkins University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Southern California, drug advertisements also increase doctor visits; in many cases, these visits don’t even result in a prescription:

“Overall, we find statistically significant effects of increased advertising on office visits. We find that 2.8 more non-elderly people per 1,000 had an office visit for one of the chronic conditions in high elderly share zip codes after exposure to increased advertising. Our two-stage least squares analysis finds that one additional ad view per person leads to 9.8 more non-elderly people per 1,000 having an office visit… a large share of the increased office visits from advertising are associated with use of non-advertised generic drugs or do not result in use of any drugs.”

Shutting these ads down would mean fewer informed patients and more missed chances to catch problems early.

Finally, banning or over-regulating DTCA would decrease market competition, limiting patient options and increasing prices.

Consumers being aware of alternatives supports competitive pricing dynamics, ensuring that no single drug can dominate without facing pricing pressures.

Without DTCA, most advertising activity will happen between pharmaceutical companies and doctors’ offices. Notably, only companies with established markets and/or deep financial resources can maintain extensive relationships with doctors’ offices through costly sales efforts (i.e. individual representatives making continuous visits).

Smaller or newer companies/drugs often lack these resources, relying more heavily on DTCA to reach patients. In this way, advertising can serve as a counterbalance to the influence of incumbents, increasing competition and giving consumers the ability to choose what is best for them amongst numerous options.

Banning or over-regulating DTCA doesn’t protect patients – it keeps them in the dark, limits medical options, and shields large companies from competition. DTCA empowers patients to be involved in their own care, facilitates important conversations with medical professionals, drives treatment uptake, and helps ensure competitive pricing. ATR urges lawmakers and White House officials to defend patients’ right to know.