CSRxP: Court Ruling Underscores Need For Congressional Action To Boost Prescription Drug Transparency

Lawmakers Must Step-in to Enact DTC List Price Disclosures, Additional Measures to Shine a Light on Big Pharma’s Pricing Practices

Washington, D.C. – The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) issued a statement Wednesday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a ruling blocking the implementation of a measure to require drug makers to disclose list prices in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising.

“We applaud the administration’s commitment to direct-to-consumer list price disclosures, but in light of the court’s recent decision, Congress must step-in to provide greater transparency into Big Pharma’s pricing practices,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “Requiring Big Pharma to disclose list prices in DTC advertising will be an important deterrent to unbridled price hikes and out-of-control launch prices.”

“It is now up to Congress to advance this and additional bipartisan, market-based solutions to boost transparency,” Aronson continued. “American patients deserve open and honest drug prices and greater transparency will help expose Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices and show policymakers and consumers where prices are most out-of-control.”

By failing to disclose list price details, as well as how and why they set prices, brand name drug companies are free to repeatedly hike prices and set out-of-control launch prices without justification and without facing public scrutiny. In fact, a recent study found Big Pharma hiked prices on seven of the most widely prescribed drugs in 2017 and 2018 with no evidence the drugs had been improved – resulting in $5.1 billion in increased costs to patients, health plans and taxpayers.

Increasing list price transparency is a market-based solution that will help lower prescription drug prices by giving patients greater information to make informed decisions, showing policymakers where drug makers’ pricing practices are most egregious and serving as a deterrent by shining a light on Big Pharma’s price-gouging practices.

Measures to increase transparency and hold Big Pharma accountable have garnered significant bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, including legislation put forward by Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Durbin (D-IL) to implement DTC advertising disclosures, and the FAIR Drug Pricing Act, introduced by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Mike Braun (R-ID).

Learn more about these and additional bipartisan, market-based solutions to lower prescription drug prices HERE.