PhRMA Launches New TV Ad Under Let’s Talk About Cost Campaign
In early June, PhRMA released its first-ever television ad as part of its Let’s Talk About Cost campaign, which has previously released print, digital, and radio ads. The ad aims to “reaffirm our commitment and generate more conversation about solutions to the challenges patients face affording their medicines.”
With heightened discussion in recent times surrounding drug prices – including the US District Court’s ruling on price disclosure in DTC ads and pricing trends data from Rx Savings Solutions – PhRMA’s Let Talk About Cost campaign helps create transparency and encourages open “dialogue on how we can make medicines more affordable for patients,” stated their news release. According to the trade association, the campaign helps “put a spotlight on the role insurers and middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers play in determining what a patient pays out of pocket for their medicine.
“Research shows that on average, 40% of the list price of medicines is given as rebates or discounts to insurance companies, the government, pharmacy benefit managers and other entities in the supply chain. These rebates and discounts exceeded $166 billion in 2018 alone and are growing every year.”
The article’s author, Priscilla VanderVeer, Vice President, Public Affairs with PhRMA, stressed the importance of focusing on “changes, like reforming the rebate system in Medicare Part D, that can lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs, improve access to cutting-edge treatments and cures, and drive competition to help bring down costs.”