US Senators Propose Bill to Include Prices in Prescription Drug Ads

US Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have introduced the Drug-price Transparency for Consumers (DTC) Act of 2025, aiming to enhance price transparency in prescription drug advertising.

The DTC Act mandates that direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription drugs and biological products disclose the list price of the medications.

In a press release, Senator Durbin said pharmaceutical advertising in the US “is a uniquely American phenomenon that contributes to the astronomical cost of prescription drugs.”

“This practice of pushing patients toward the most expensive drugs drives up the cost of health care while undermining the role of doctors. A healthy dose of transparency is the prescription Big Pharma needs,” stated Senator Durbin.

In the announcement, Senator Grassley said, “Knowing what something costs before buying it is just common sense.”

He said disclosing the list price in advertisements is a “no-nonsense way [to] empower healthcare consumers to make informed decisions.” He said it also helps foster competition, potentially leading to lower prescription drug costs.

Notably, the US and New Zealand are the only industrialized nations that permit direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

Related: FTC Report Finds Top PBMs Raked in $7.3B from Specialty Drug Markups

A 2021 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that between 2016 and 2018, 58% of Medicare’s spending on drugs was attributed to those advertised directly to consumers.

Additionally, a 2023 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed that two-thirds of advertised drugs offered “low therapeutic value.”

According to the press release from Senator Durbin’s office, studies also indicate that patients are more likely to request and ultimately receive a prescription for a specific drug after seeing advertisements for it.

And a Kaiser survey found that 88% of Americans support the price disclosure policy for advertisements, reflecting bipartisan support for price transparency in drug ads.

Senator Durbin penned a commentary in the Chicago Tribune this week in which he outlined how Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world — on average four times what people in other developed countries pay for the same brand-name medications.

“It’s shameful that Big Pharma spends billions in targeted advertisements, often bombarding patients with gibberish, while keeping them in the dark about one crucial factor — the price. With the DTC Act, we will require Big Pharma to end the secrecy and shine light on the real costs of medications — saving Americans from excessive health care costs,” he said in the piece.

The pharmaceutical industry invests approximately $6 billion annually in direct-to-consumer drug advertising, resulting in the average American viewing nine such ads daily.

Studies show that these advertisements often steer patients toward more expensive medications, even when they might not need them and even if lower-cost generics are available.

Senators Durbin and Grassley introduced similar bills over the past several years, in 2023, 2021 and 2019. In 2018, they received approval for an amendment to a spending bill that would have required pharmaceutical companies to disclose drug prices in advertisements; however, it was removed from the bill a month later before reaching the House of Representatives for approval.

During the recent confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy, President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Senator Grassley took the time to request Kennedy’s support for the bill if he’s confirmed.

The DTC Act has garnered support from several co-sponsors, including Senators Angus King (I-ME), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

The legislation is endorsed by organizations such as the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American College of Physicians (ACP), Patients for Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNOW) and the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP).

The legislative effort has bipartisan support to increase transparency in prescription drug pricing and ensure that consumers have access to pertinent information when making healthcare decisions.

Senator Bernie Sanders has also been calling out the high cost of prescription drugs in the US compared to countries like Canada. Last year, he summoned the CEOs of Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson to a Senate committee hearing on soaring drug prices and skyrocketing pharma profits. The big pharma heads provided few answers and made no commitments to lower prices.

Additionally, a report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month revealed how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — the middlemen who negotiate drug prices — stowed away billions in profits from specialty drugs over the past several years while driving up costs for consumers.

If you want your company to be featured on Xtalks.com, please email [email protected].