Pharma and Media Losing Sleep over New Health Regulations

Since taking the office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has disappointed and angered people on both sides of the political divide. Under his leadership, US federal agencies have continued to allow useless and dangerous vaccines – notably the COVID-19 shots – as well as approved and fast-tracked new mRNA vaccines, thus raising concerns among many conservatives and libertarians.

The left already hates RFK Jr. because he walked away from the Democratic Party, though even as a Democrat, he continued to inform people of the real science that doesn’t support the “safe and effective vaccine” narrative, which is predominantly furthered by the left. At the same time, RFK Jr. being a Trump pick automatically puts him in the crosshairs of liberal antagonism.

However, RFK Jr. is now working on a measure that has bipartisan support but can deliver a blow to big pharma as well as mainstream media companies. The Detroit News (June 17) called it Kennedy’s planned crackdown on the advertisement business of pharma. As the story put it, the Trump admin is discussing two policies that could hurt pharma’s advertising business: first, requiring pharma ads to include detailed side/adverse effects of the product (drug) featured in the ad; and secondly no more allowing pharma to write off its direct-to-consumer advertising costs as business expense for tax purposes.

Both policies under discussion would hit pharma from different angles but at the same weak spot – its pockets of profit. To include details of the side effects, and not just the common ones that most pharma ads mention in passing, would not only make the ads lengthier and thus costlier to produce but also make the audience more aware of the risks associated with the mediation and thus less likely to buy it. Removing their ability to write off ad costs as business expense would make pharma pay higher taxes, unless they choose to reduce their ad space in media, meaning less exposure and eventually fewer purchases.

And big pharma is not the only industry worried about the potential blow about to be dealt with these federal requirements; corporate media is also feeling the implications as ants in its pants. On Wednesday (June 18), the radical leftist CNN published a story expressing the concern that RFK Jr.’s crackdown on drug ads could cripple some broadcasters. Mentioning the $5 billion spent on TV ads by big pharma last year, CNN wrote:

Drug ads, which are illegal in most countries, have been a hallmark of US television since the 1980s. By raising the bar on pharmaceutical ads, the Trump administration threatens a crucial revenue source for broadcasters.

Independent journalist and commentator Maria Zee asked on her X profile “The Vigilant Fox” whether this could be the end of pharma’s propaganda empire. Maria posted her video commentary, reminding that the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the developed world that allow pharma such unbridled direct-to-consumer advertisement of drugs.

The Trump administration is also working on sweeping changes to the federal healthcare policy, specifically cutting out healthcare benefits extended to illegal aliens under the Obama and Biden administrations.

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