Oklahoma Joins Push Against Big Pharma Ads with Sweeping Bill.

Efforts to curb or remove pharmaceutical advertising from radio and television airwaves are not just underway in Washington. Some states have begun taking steps to target drug marketing. That includes Oklahoma, where a bill is pending that would prohibit stations from airing any direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.

Republican state Senator Dusty Deevers has made limits to drug marketing part of his Make Oklahoma Healthy Again, modeled on a similar effort underway launched in tandem with the Make America Healthy Again agenda of President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.

Deevers says 193 out of the world’s 195 countries do not allow pharmaceutical companies to market prescription drugs directly to consumers — with the U.S. and New Zealand the exceptions. He believes the practice has led to a culture in which commercials can end up influencing healthcare decisions and compromise the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship by creating improper pressure on doctors to prescribe certain advertised medications.

“The dangers of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising have been well-documented in multiple public health crises,” Deevers said. “Aggressive marketing campaigns for opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin, played a pivotal role in fueling the opioid epidemic, leading to widespread addiction and countless deaths. Similarly, Vioxx, a pain reliever heavily promoted through television ads, was later pulled from the market after being linked to tens of thousands of fatal heart attacks.

His bill (SB771) would make broadcasting advertisements for prescription drugs via radio, television, radio, online streaming services, billboards, email, text messaging, or social media. It also says that publishing advertisements for prescription drugs in print or digital publications distributed within Oklahoma would violate the law, as would the targeting of Oklahoma residents with prescription drug advertisements through digital or social media platforms.

Violations would be a felony punishable of fines up to $500,000 and up to five years in prison. Each instance of prohibited advertising will constitute a separate offense if the law is enacted.

“SB771 will ensure that medical decisions are merit-based and free from emotionally manipulative multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns,” Deevers said.

The law does include some carve outs, such as allowing public health campaigns that educate the public about medication, treatments, and health conditions to be advertised, provided they are not promoting the use of the drug outside of a controlled trial setting. Ads that inform consumers about insurance coverage for prescription drugs would also be allowed, provided these advertisements do not directly promote specific drugs or brands. Similar rules would also apply to patient assistance programs.

It is unclear how far the bill will get. It has been referred to the Oklahoma Senate’s Health and Human Services for review. But Jim Potter, CHC Executive Director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, which represents medical marketing and advertising firms, has told his members to expect to see other similar legislation appear in other states.

Back in Washington, a bill has now been introduced in both the House and Senate that doesn’t prohibit pharmaceutical ads from airing. But if passed, it will end the tax deduction for expenses related to direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

U.S. prescription drug expenditures rose to $805.9 billion in 2024, an increase of 10.2% over the previous year, fueled in large part by soaring demand for weight-loss drugs. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists says in a just-released report that those weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1s are increasingly prescribed for both diabetes and obesity and have become the top drug category by total spending and the fastest-growing segment in the market.