By Edward Lynn, Editor
WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is backing a bill that would require pharmaceutical companies to disclose drug prices in television advertisements, arguing that publicizing the high costs could pressure companies into lowering them.
Speaking in his regular Capitol Hill Report radio interview, conducted this time by Joe Benedict with the Key Account Daily Gate City, Grassley emphasized that while banning prescription drug advertisements outright is unlikely, forcing companies to list prices in their commercials could be an effective alternative. He compared the requirement to how automobile manufacturers disclose pricing in advertisements.
“If pharmaceuticals can take a lot of time to tell you about all the bad aspects of your pill, they ought to be able to advertise the price,” Grassley said. “I think if they advertise the price, it’s going to drive down the cost of their drugs. Maybe it’ll be so embarrassing to the companies that they’ll keep their price down.”
The bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), aims to increase transparency in drug pricing. Pharmaceutical companies have historically resisted such measures, arguing that listing prices could mislead consumers due to variations in insurance coverage and discounts.
Grassley did not indicate whether he expects the bill to pass in the current Congress but expressed confidence in its potential impact if implemented.
When asked about broader legislative efforts to combat high grocery and energy prices, Grassley noted that no laws were currently being pursued but suggested that the Federal Trade Commission or Justice Department could take actions to ease costs. However Grassley expressed a surprising sentiment on this note, coming from a senior Republican in the Senate. “I think that if Biden had been re-elected, that you would have had those actions taken,” Grassley said. “But in the case of the new presidency, I think it’s too early to answer,” he concluded, seeming to have preferred Democratic former President Biden’s stable, predictable policy to Trump’s objectively more haphazard policies.
