GAO report on DTC spending fuels bipartisan call for pricing disclosures

Responding to a Government Accountability Office report on direct-to-consumer advertising of drugs, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Thursday said they plan to reintroduce legislation seeking to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose list prices in advertisements.

In 2019, a federal court prevented HHS from implementing a rule requiring pricing disclosures in direct-to-consumer (DTC) television advertisements. Amit P. Mehta, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled that the Trump administration could not impose the requirement, and explained that “no matter how vexing the problem of spiraling drug costs may be, HHS cannot do more than what Congress has authorized. The responsibility rests with Congress to act in the first instance.”...