Trump Signs Order on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising

Federal officials are resuming enforcement of regulations that dictate how pharmaceutical products can be advertised to consumers, the Trump administration said on Sept. 9, as President Donald Trump signed a new executive order. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is restarting its enforcement of regulations that prohibit pharmaceutical ads from creating a “misleading impression” and require them to present a “fair balance of information,” a senior administration official told reporters on a call. The FDA is also reversing its 1997 relaxation of direct-to-consumer ad regulations, which enabled companies to point people to information hosted in other places, such as websites, the official said. Spending on direct-to-consumer ads jumped from $150 million in 1993 to $6 billion in 2016, according to a 2023 paper published in the Journal of Public Economics. The rise primarily happened after the 1997 FDA move....