WARNING – President Trump’s latest crackdown on prescription drug advertisements may cause Big Pharma executives to experience insomnia, tension headaches, a feeling of loss of control, and an upset stomach.
Trump signed an executive memorandum on Tuesday, directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to enhance transparency in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising. It calls for mandating more detailed disclosures of side effects.
This initiative, spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., will address violations in drug ads without imposing an outright ban on those ads. The wording of the memorandum is deliberate, staying within the bounds of applicable law to limit potential legal action that would tie up their efforts in the courts.
Kennedy is tasked with taking “appropriate action to ensure transparency and accuracy in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, including by increasing the amount of information regarding any risks associated with the use of any such prescription drug.”
The President is also directing the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to “enforce the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act’s prescription drug advertising provisions,” thereby ensuring “truthful and non-misleading information.”
MAHA🇺🇸
President Trump has signed a memorandum directing @SecKennedy to ensure transparency and accuracy in direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising and @DrMakaryFDA to enforce the prescription drug advertising provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. pic.twitter.com/SxyIre2fBB
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 9, 2025
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If you thought prescription drug advertisements with their long list of side effects, which are sometimes alarming, were bad before, they might get worse. It seems pharmaceutical companies have been taking advantage of a so-called “adequate provision loophole” that allows a shorter list of side effects on television ads, so long as they provide an outside source – a link or phone number – that lists them all.
How many consumers actually obtain that list, simply assuming those listed in the advertisement are the full list, or, at the least, are the main potential issues?
The Hill reports that administration officials expect such complete disclosures to lengthen ads, thereby increasing the costs for the drug companies.
It’s an interesting move, giving Kennedy the power to go after pharmaceutical companies and their deceptive practices, as the HHS Secretary has fought off calls for his resignation—a seeming tip of the hat by Trump approving of his cabinet member.
Kennedy has long advocated for a crackdown on direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, promising to flat-out ban them when he was running as an Independent presidential candidate. That fight has continued.
Trump’s memorandum comes after the release of the administration’s Make America Healthy Again Commission report, which calls out “egregious violations demonstrating harm” stemming from online health influencers and telehealth companies.
Unlike those sources, it’s clear the President is prioritizing the consumers, the American people, over drug companies.
“I’ve [never] been loyal to the special interests; I have been loyal to our patients and our people that need drugs — prescription drugs — and devoted myself completely to fighting for the American people,” he said.
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