During the Democratic National Convention, Democratic politicians criticized the pharmaceutical industry for raising prescription drug prices. However, viewers at home were flooded with advertisements promoting drugs during commercial breaks, according to STAT.
For example, Pfizer ran 25 ads across the six major networks featuring the DNC, media research firm iSpot.tv found. While some of the ads promoted Viagra, the company's erectile dysfunction drug, others aimed to communicate to viewers how difficult the research and development process of creating new drugs is, according to STAT.
BIO, a pharma industry trade group, offered a similar message by playing an emotional video demonstrating the power of life-saving prescription drugs on the jumbotron at a charity batting practice Tuesday at CitizensBankPark, the Philadelphia Phillies' home field, according to the report.
Hillary Clinton has called to end tax breaks for advertising prescription drugs and to require drug ads to receive federal regulatory clearance as a means of lowering drug spending. On Thursday, the Democratic nominee said "the cost of your prescription drugs" is one of the issues she plans to address, STAT reported. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) condemned "the greed of the drug companies" in his speech endorsing Ms. Clinton Monday.
Other ads that were prevalent during the DNC include a spot for Celgene's psoriasis drug Otezla, which appeared 13 times on CNN and MSNBC, according to STAT. Advertisement's for Novo Nordisk's drug Victoza and AbbVie's drug Humira also ran numerous times on MSNBC.
Overall, about 140 TV ads promoting prescription drugs and their manufacturers appeared during the DNC, according to the report. In comparison, 80 such ads ran across networks during the Republican National Convention last week.