If you live in the United States, you’ve likely seen drug commercials like this one:
“If you’re living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis, symptoms can sometimes hold you back,” a cheery voice says as a woman sips a hot drink in her car while looking out toward the ocean. “Now there’s Skyrizi, so you can be all in with clear skin,” the voice declares in an even more upbeat tone. The woman throws off her white cardigan, revealing a blue bathing suit and unblemished limbs, before running into the ocean.
The commercial then lists some of the medication’s side effects, such as serious allergic reactions and an increased likelihood of infection. Other risks are described online: liver problems, headaches, stomach pain, low red blood cell count, and fungal skin infections. The list goes on.
But there’s another downside that’s unlisted, one that’s not associated with the medication but the TV commercial itself: critics say such direct-to-consumer drug ads — which are prohibited in all but one other country — misinform patients and underemphasize treatment risks.
As Robert F. Kennedy Jr — Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services — threatens to ban such ads on his first day in office, the pharmaceutical industry is sounding the alarm. A recent report by the health care technology company Intron Health found that pharmaceutical interests named the potential ban as their number-one concern with the incoming administration, saying that doing so would lead to a drop in drug sales.
“We see this as the biggest imminent threat from RFK and the new Trump administration,” Intron’s authors wrote.
While the likelihood of Kennedy successfully…
Auteur: Helen Santoro
