It’s hard to say who in the Trump administration has been working the hardest.
Certainly, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is in the mix. The last time I reported on him, he had replaced an important vaccine review panel with new members who were demanding more robust analysis of data and policies before providing immunization guidance.
Kennedy has been a vocal critic of pharmaceutical advertising on television. He argues that such ads contribute to Americans being “the biggest consumers of pharmaceutical products in the world,” without corresponding improvements in public health.
The HHS Secretary is pushing policies that would either require drug ads to include more detailed risk disclosures, making them longer and costlier, or eliminate tax deductions for direct-to-consumer ads, increasing expenses for drug companies.
Nearly half of these ads air on news networks like CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, and Fox News, according to a December eMarketer report…and their revenue could be adversely impacted.
Drug ads, which are illegal in most countries, have been a hallmark of US television since the 1980s. By raising the bar on pharmaceutical ads, the Trump administration threatens a crucial revenue source for broadcasters.Drug companies spent $5.15 billion on TV ads in 2024, a significant figure considering a recent study found that drugmakers spent almost $14 billion on direct-to-consumer ads in 2023. Despite leaner audience numbers, linear television saw an uptick in pharmaceutical ad buys in 2024, which reached $3.4 billion during the first eight months of 2024, an 8.1% year-over-year increase.Almost 50% of those drug ads were split across news broadcasters, including MSNBC, CBS News, CNN and Fox News, according to a December report from research firm eMarketer.
The collapse of the mainstream media news outlets would be a feature and not a bug as far as many of us are concerned.
Interestingly, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME) introduced the “End Prescription Drug Ads Now Act,” a landmark bill that seeks to ban all direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs across every platform—television, radio, print, digital, and social media. This proposal marks the first comprehensive federal effort to permanently prohibit such advertising in this country.
Critics say these ads contribute to the high price of healthcare while doing little to improve care in the United States, though proponents say the advertisements can improve patients’ knowledge of healthcare. Most wealthy countries, with the U.S. and New Zealand being two notable exceptions, ban pharmaceutical drug advertisements.The bill also represents an issue where Sanders, viewed as perhaps the most progressive senator, has found common ground with Kennedy Jr. inside the Trump administration, though the secretary has not commented on this bill specifically.
So it appears some progress is being made on this front.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s push to remove petroleum-based food dyes seems to be making progress as well. Kraft Heinz, one of the largest food and beverage companies in the nation, has just announced that it will remove all artificial food dyes from its U.S. product lineup by the end of 2027.
This decision affects well-known brands such as Kool-Aid, Jell-O, Crystal Light, MiO, and Jet-Puffed, which currently use synthetic colorants like Red No. 40, Blue No. 1, and others.
The company removed artificial colors, preservatives and flavors from its Kraft macaroni and cheese in 2016 and its Heinz ketchup has never used artificial dyes, according to Pedro Navio, North America president at Kraft Heinz. It is unclear how removing the dyes will affect the company’s business, as consumers could perceive the products as healthier but also may be less drawn to duller colors.The decision follows pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health and Human Services, led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for the food industry to pull back on artificial dyes as part of a larger so-called Make America Healthy Again platform.The FDA in April announced a plan to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes by the end of next year and replace them with natural alternatives. Besides the previously banned Red No. 3, other dyes that will be eliminated include red dye 40, yellow dye 5, yellow dye 6, blue dye 1, blue dye 2 and green dye 2, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said at the time.
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