A congressional lawmaker introduced legislation that would end the tax break that drug makers can take for advertising medicines to consumers. Called the Protecting Americans from Drug Marketing Act, the bill is designed to encourage companies to focus on developing new medicines, instead of “marketing schemes,” according to US Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) who introduced the legislation on Thursday.
The legislation, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code, is part of a growing trend to minimize the prevalence of direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Two weeks ago, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced a bill calling for a three-year moratorium on advertising newly approved prescription drugs to consumers. In November, the American Medical Association called for an outright ban on this form of promotion.
Like the AMA, Franken argued that increased spending on advertising contributes to higher drug costs, since many ads feature newer and pricier medicines. Drug makers, he said in his statement, are “trying to encourage Americans to buy the most expensive drugs, even when cheaper, equally effective drugs are on the market … This is just a common sense measure to help cut down health care costs.”
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How about LEGALIZING medical cannabis? Do proper research on the people who are benefiting from cannabis and have stopped taking prescription drugs. Stop being paid off by the pharmaceutical companies.