It’s hard to miss ads for prescription drugs on TV and now they’ll even be required to list prices as well. Pharma companies will soon be required by the U.S. government to display the price of the prescription drug that the ad is for on every commercial.
This proposed requirement was confirmed the secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar to the Associated Press. The rules could take effect by this summer so it may not be long before we start seeing drug ads in the U.S. that also mention the prices.
Apparently, the idea behind this requirement is to lean on drug companies to lower the costs for everybody. It’s difficult to say how requiring them to mention the prices in commercials is going to achieve that aim.
One has to take into account the fact that the prices mentioned in commercials will actually be the list price. There’s often a significant difference between the list price of a medicine and the out of pocket cost for a patient once insurance is accounted for.
“What I say to the companies is if you think the cost of your drug will scare people from buying your drugs, then lower your prices,” Azar said, adding that “Transparency for American patients is here.”
Nevertheless, pharma companies are reportedly against this new requirement, which will set to be published in the Federal Register on May 10th and will then take effect 60 days after that. The pricing information will have to appear on the screen for four seconds in a 75 second commercial but won’t be required to be read audibly like the side effects are.
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