There’s a peculiar moment that plays out in doctors’ offices across America thousands of times each day. A patient settles into their chair and says something like, “I saw this commercial about a medication for my condition. Do you think it might work for me?” In that instant, a pharmaceutical company has effectively joined the…
The pharmaceutical industry is facing an unprecedented challenge: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, long considered the gold standard of global drug regulation, is hemorrhaging talent at an alarming rate. With thousands of employees departing through layoffs, early retirements, and voluntary resignations, the ripple effects are already being felt across the entire drug development ecosystem….
The Food and Drug Administration has long stood as America’s guardian of medical safety and scientific integrity. For decades, patients have trusted that when the FDA approves a treatment, that decision rests on rigorous scientific evidence, not political expediency. Recent events surrounding the approval of leucovorin as an autism treatment have shaken that trust to…
In an era where health misinformation spreads faster than any virus, pharmaceutical companies are conspicuously absent from the conversations that matter most. While patients desperately search for reliable information about their treatments, the industry that develops these medicines has largely retreated behind regulatory barriers and legal concerns, leaving a vacuum that’s being filled with dangerous…
I recently caught a TV spot for Rezdiffra, a treatment for fatty liver disease, and it perfectly encapsulates what’s fundamentally broken about direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharma advertising today. Here’s the problem: The ad jumps straight to branded messaging without any patient education or disease awareness building. No context. No foundation. Just a drug name and a…
We’ve all seen them: those ubiquitous pharmaceutical commercials featuring people frolicking through fields while a soothing voiceover lists an alarming array of potential side effects. According to recent survey data, these ads are doing their job—at least on paper. But a closer look reveals a significant gap between what people say they’ll do and what…
While the FDA and pharmaceutical companies engage in their endless tango over fair balance requirements in direct-to-consumer television advertising, they’re overlooking a critical reality: patients don’t stop at the TV screen anymore. They pull out their phones or iPads and go online but, pharma is really not part of that conversation. The Journey Nobody’s Tracking…
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising has long been a double-edged sword in the pharmaceutical industry. Done right, it can spark conversations with physicians, empower patients with knowledge, and increase treatment adoption. Done wrong, it becomes just another expensive campaign that gets lost in the noise—or worse, erodes trust. 1. Start With the Patient, Not the Product Too…
The Trump administration announced a deal with Pfizer to lower drug prices. One component is a direct-to-consumer platform called TrumpRx.gov, where patients could purchase certain drugs directly from Pfizer at discounted rates, but in reality, Trump Rx is nothing more than a PR stunt. The recent rollout of TrumpRx has been framed as a bold move to…
In recent weeks, major pharmaceutical companies (notably Pfizer) have signaled interest in selling prescription drugs directly to consumers, bypassing traditional intermediaries like pharmacies, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and insurers. On its face, this appears to be a bold move to reduce markups and increase transparency — and perhaps to address public frustration over high drug…