Is Medicare’s drug-price law affecting the way pharma brands advertise?

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may have caused brands to rethink one of the immutable laws of pharma marketing.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising spending usually decreases in proportion to a drug’s life cycle. At what point that pull-back happens — either prior to patent expiry, or post-expiry but with expectations for lower return-on-investment (ROI) — typically depends on the drug and indication type, the payer mix and other factors.