Republicans are the progressives now and liberals are nowhere to be seen on this one.
Trump just dropped a memorandum which reads in part,
The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall therefore take appropriate action to ensure transparency and accuracy in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, including by increasing the amount of information regarding any risks associated with the use of any such prescription drug required to be provided in prescription drug advertisements, to the extent permitted by applicable law. The Commissioner of Food and Drugs shall take appropriate action to enforce the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act's prescription drug advertising provisions, and otherwise ensure truthful and non-misleading information in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements.
Here's RFK:
And Commissioner of Food and Drugs Dr. Marty Makary:
TIME Magazine gives us a little background on the history of these FDA regulations:
Short of a full ban, in 1985, the FDA established strict guidelines for advertising prescription drugs. If the manufacturer wanted to mention a condition that the drug is intended to treat, the guidelines required more information to be made available to consumers, including all possible side effects.
...
But in 1997, the FDA relaxed its strict rules ... The change allowed ads that had 'adequate provision' of information, which could mean mentioning side effects in part and redirecting consumers to doctors for other information on the drug. This led to a spending boom for direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.
TIME also tells us that drug companies spent almost $11 billion on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising in 2024.
I wonder if we'll get any honest liberal takes on this move by the Trump administration or if we'll just see more of the same "It's bad because Trump did it."
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