DTC Ads Promote Informed Health Care Decision-Making

Prescription drug advertising directed at consumers has grown slowly but steadily in this country over
the past 25 years. That growth has accompanied the introduction of new drugs that provide significant health
benefits to the American consumer; there is little doubt that advertising has played a major role in increasing
public awareness of the availability of those new drugs. But increased advertising also has its critics. There
have been efforts in Congress to abolish tax deductibility for direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) advertising of
prescription drugs; to step up enforcement efforts against allegedly deceptive advertising; and even to prohibit
DTC advertising altogether for the first several years following a drug’s initial approval. All such efforts are
largely misguided. No one supports misleading advertising; but instances of misleading advertising have been
few and far between, and the benefits of DTC advertising have vastly exceeded any perceived costs.