Recent reports are drawing renewed attention to brand drugmakers' staggering spending on advertising that directly targets consumers – and the sizeable tax benefits drugmakers enjoy from writing off these marketing strategies that increase prescription drug prices for Americans.
By The Numbers: "Pharma advertisers have kicked off 2025 with a bang, with the top 10 spenders throwing almost 30% more money behind their TV commercials in the first quarter compared to the same period a year ago," Fierce Pharma reports.
- “Across the first three months of this year, according to iSpot.TV, drugmakers have spent a combined $729.4 million to air commercials for the top 10 brands, up from $567.3 million in the first quarter of 2024,” Fierce adds, noting the “spending spree was helped along by several major broadcast events,” including the Super Bowl and NCAA March Madness tournament.
Shedding additional light on the issue, a recent analysis by the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) found:
- The 10 pharmaceutical companies analyzed spent a combined $13.8 billion on advertising and promotion in 2023 alone in the U.S.
- Taxing or prohibiting direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads for the ten largest pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. would result in increased federal tax revenue between $1.5 and $1.7 billion per year.
Why It Matters: From every possible screen and platform to newspapers, mail and billboards, Americans are enveloped in slick advertising intended to induce demand for high-cost brand drugs.
- The staggering costs of these inescapable campaigns are subsidized by taxpayers and passed on to patients in the form of higher drug prices here in the U.S.
- None of America’s global competitors permit such campaigns, much less subsidize them.
What They’re Saying: “Medicines should be prescribed based on clinical evidence and comparative value — not taxpayer-subsidized marketing,” said Mike Tuffin, AHIP President & CEO.
Go Deeper: Read the full CSRxP analysis here.
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