CT GOP legislators’ bill to ban prescription drug ads will get a hearing

Hartford Business Journal – Tuesday, February 4, 2025
By David Krechevsky

The state General Law Committee will hold a public hearing on a bill that would ban direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medications.

Proposed by Rep. Dave Rutigliano (R-Trumbull), who was joined by Rep. Vincent Candelora (R-North Branford) and Rep. Tom O’Dea (R-New Canaan) as co-sponsors, the intent of House Bill 6062 is to prohibit such advertising in Connecticut.

“We’re trying to start the conversation,” Rutigliano said. “The United States is one of only two countries that allows direct-to-consumer advertising. There’s a movement afoot that some people think this is bad public policy.”

According to Harvard Ad Watch, which was launched in 2022 to track such ads, the federal Food and Drug Administration eased restrictions to allow drug companies to advertise directly to consumers in 1997. Since then, it said, spending on prescription drug ads has soared to nearly $10 billion a year and continues to increase.

Monday evening, the Hartford Business Journal observed five prescription drug ads that aired between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. on the CBS network. The drugs included the anti-depressant Rexulti, the shingles vaccine Shingrix, migraine medication Qulipta, eczema medication Rinvoq, and Zepbound, a weight-loss drug.

Rutigliano said there are more people on prescription drugs than ever, and that advertising is among the reasons for that. “Are we encouraging people to be on medication they don’t need?” he asked.

He also said it’s possible that some news organizations may hesitate to investigate or criticize a drug company that spends millions of dollars each year to advertise.

“We think that there’s a perverse incentive here,” he said, “meaning that the news organizations or television stations or somebody who accepts this type of advertising may be unwilling to discuss the benefits or the downfalls of such medication. It acts as a deterrent.”

Asked whether this issue would be better addressed on a national level, Rutigliano said the point of his bill is to start that conversation.

“The beauty of the Connecticut (legislative) system is we get to raise a concept that’s not fully vetted, which this one isn’t, and have a conversation,” he said. “We invite people to come and talk about it. So we’re certainly inviting a conversation. We can’t have a bill without a public hearing.”

A date for a public hearing on the bill has not yet been set, but it will likely be held later this month.

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