CNN admitted Wednesday policies to limit pharmaceutical TV advertising that are being considered by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could cripple the TV news business.
The policies, which include a plan to remove a loophole allowing pharmaceutical companies to write off advertising as a tax deduction, could “leave broadcasters in financial straits,” CNN reported in a Wednesday article.
While Kennedy Jr. has long advocated to end the practice of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising — a practice banned in almost every other nation globally — experts believe that pharmaceutical giants would challenge an outright ban on First Amendment grounds.
Let’s get President Trump back in the White House and me to DC so we can ban pharmaceutical advertising. pic.twitter.com/Qp7fj9xskU
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) November 3, 2024
Instead, Kennedy Jr. is reportedly seeking to end the tax deduction loophole and force advertisers to elaborate on the risks their drugs pose in their advertisements, making the TV spots longer and more expensive, according to CNN. (RELATED: FDA Vaccine Advisor Calls For COVID Victims To Sue Trump Admin)
The loophole currently costs taxpayers over $1 billion annually, according to a March analysis from the Campaign for Sustainable RX Pricing (CSRxP).
That same study found that pharmaceutical giants spent over $5 billion on TV advertisements in 2024.
Congress has joined Kennedy Jr. in putting DTC advertising on the chopping block. In April a bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced the No Handouts for Drug Advertisements Act, which would end the loophole allowing advertisers to claim the ads as tax write-offs.
Pharmaceutical commercials make up a significant portion of primetime news advertisements. Drugmakers accounted for nearly a quarter of ad minutes across the evening blocks on MSNBC, Fox News, NBC, ABC, CNN and CBS, according to an iSpot analysis reported by Yahoo News.
CNN itself admitted the harm Kennedy Jr.’s policies would do to its network, writing “disincentivizing direct-to-consumer drug ads would harm traditional broadcasters and cable companies.”
