In case you missed it, research recently published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) Network analyzed the staggering expansion
of Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising across non-traditional
mediums like social media, less subject to oversight and regulatory guardrails
than traditional media like television and radio. The study found brand name
drug makers are increasingly investing in influencer content and digital
strategies that look like ordinary personal stories or health tips but function
as marketing designed to further push high-priced, blockbuster products.
November 21, 2025
TOPLINE
In case you missed it, research
<[link removed]>
recently published in theJournal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
Network analyzed the staggering expansion of Big Pharma’s direct-to-consumer
(DTC) advertising across non-traditional mediums like social media, less
subject to oversight and regulatory guardrails than traditional media like
television and radio. The study found brand name drug makers are increasingly
investing in influencer content and digital strategies that look like ordinary
personal stories or health tips but function as marketing designed to further
push high-priced, blockbuster products.
The study highlights how this playbook allows Big Pharma to sidestep
guardrails that apply to television or radio advertising set by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These
guardrails, designed to protect consumers from misleading claims and arm them
with information to best make health care decisions with their doctor, are not
being applied to Big Pharma’s algorithm-boosted digital strategies meant to
increase sales of high-priced brand name drugs through social media. As a
result, millions of Americans are being exposed to Big Pharma’s aggressive
marketing tactics without guardrails on claims, disclosures about risks — or
even, in some instances, the fact that it’s paid marketing at all. Read more on
the research letter from JAMAHERE
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.
Also, a recent analysis
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published in The American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC) highlights the
outsized impact brand name prescription drugs approved to treat rare diseases
under the Orphan Drug Act have on prescription drug spending — and how
exempting certain blockbuster brand name drugs approved to treat rare diseases
from solutions to lower prescription drug prices, “substantially limits
potential savings for patients and the health care system.”
The analysis discusses a pharma-backed policy passed by Congress earlier this
year, The Optimizing Research Progress Hope And New (ORPHAN) Cures Act.
Originally, Congress passed this Big Pharma-backed policy without the right
information from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on which brand name
drugs would be impacted – or its true cost to the American people.A revised
estimate
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from CBO projects the ORPHAN Cures Act will cost $8.8 billion between 2025 and
2034, by exempting blockbuster drugs like Merck’s Keytruda from solutions to
lower drug prices. Read more on the AJMC analysisHERE
<[link removed]>
.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK
“[O]ne glaring problem demands action—patent abuse by large pharmaceutical
corporations. The surest way to drive down costs is to clear the path for
generics. Yet brand-name companies often deploy patent tactics to block
challengers.”
Curtis Hill, Former Attorney General, Indiana
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DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Just 33.4%
Of 740 posts from social media influencers pushing sales of brand name
prescription drugs reviewed in a recentresearch letter
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published in JAMA Network, 69.1 percent of the posts included claims on
efficacy, while “information on risks or adverse effects” appeared in just 247
(33.4%) of the posts.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@BLaw <[link removed]>: “Opinion: The Federal
Trade Commission and Department of Justice can help drive prescription drug
prices down by punishing companies for abusing patents that prevent generic
reproductions of drugs.”
@JAMAHealthForum <[link removed]>:
“Viewpoint: Pharmaceutical companies routinely exploit patents, trade secrets,
copyrights, and trademarks to delay competition, sustain high drug prices, and
limit patient access to affordable medication.[link removed]
<[link removed]>”
ROAD TO RECOVERY
MLex: I-MAK's Tahir Amin Presses US Congress On Effect Of Patents On Drug
Prices
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Tahir Amin, CEO of the IP advocacy group Initiative for Medicines, Access, and
Knowledge, is urging lawmakers to examine how patent practices such as
evergreening and thickets drive up drug costs. While critics challenge I-MAK’s
data, Amin says transparency and debate are necessary to change patent policy
to encourage competition. While the national conversation over prescription
drug prices has dominated political campaigns, Tahir Amin says he wants to help
lawmakers examine how patent policy impacts these costs.
PBS: What Are Biologics And Can The Trump Administration Make Them Cheaper
With Biosimilars?
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If you watch TV and don’t mute ads, you’ve probably heard of a few biologics.
They’re drugs such as Humira for arthritis and Trulicity for Type 2 diabetes.
You may also know they are expensive. Biologics represented 5% of the drugs
prescribed in the U.S. in 2024, but they accounted for more than half of the
country’s total prescription medicine spending, according to health data
analysis company IQVIA. The Trump administration said it hopes to make these
medications more affordable partly by increasing access to “biosimilars,” or
highly similar products. What are biologics and biosimilars and will the
administration’s proposals help drive down their costs?
Bloomberg Law: Opinion: Lower Prescription Prices Come When Patent Abuses Are
Punished
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The Department of Health and Human Services will soon release a report—delayed
only by the government shutdown—outlining steps to cut prescription drug
prices. HHS is already in talks with the Federal Trade Commission and the
Justice Department’s Antitrust Division to make drugs more affordable by
restoring competition. That’s the right fight. But one glaring problem demands
action—patent abuse by large pharmaceutical corporations. The surest way to
drive down costs is to clear the path for generics. Yet brand-name companies
often deploy patent tactics to block challengers.
PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS
Inside Health Policy: JAMA Network Analysis Shines Light On How Big Pharma
Pushes Sales Of High-Priced Blockbusters By Targeting Consumers On Social Media
<[link removed]>
In case you missed it, research published in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) Network analyzed the staggering expansion of Big
Pharma’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising across non-traditional mediums
like social media, less subject to oversight and regulatory guardrails than
traditional media like television and radio. The study found brand name drug
makers are increasingly investing in influencer content and digital strategies
that look like ordinary personal stories or health tips but function as
marketing designed to further push high-priced, blockbuster products.
The American Journal Of Managed Care: US Spending On High-Revenue Rare Disease
Drugs In 2022
<[link removed]>
Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act of 1983 to incentivize pharmaceutical
companies to invest in treatments for rare conditions. The law provides tax
credits to partially offset clinical trial costs for developing drugs to treat
rare diseases and 7 years of exclusivity protection from FDA approval of
generic competitors. To qualify for these incentives, drug makers were
initially required to attest that there was “no reasonable expectation” that a
drug could generate a profit, but the designation was subsequently amended to
include all drugs treating conditions that affected fewer than 200,000
Americans. During the past several decades, the number of FDA-approved drugs
with Orphan Drug Act designations has increased substantially, accounting for
41% of drugs approved by the FDA from 2008 to 2018.
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