J&J to show medicine prices on TV ads to drive transparency

Johnson & Johnson (J&J) will be including information about the cost of its medicines in pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising. In a media statement, it said that it will include both the list price and potential patient out-of-pocket costs.This comes following the current Administration’s American Patients First Blueprint issued in May last year which proposed including list price information in direct-to-consumer TV ads. The pharmaceutical giant said that it looks to implement additional transparency to enable patients to make more informed decisions.According to J&J, pricing information will give patients clearer, and more valuable, information about the cost of the medicines advertised on TV. The company will be starting with its widely prescribed medicine, to assess how the price and cost information will be received by a broad range of people. It will also take into account patient and consumer feedback in guiding roll-out to additional medicines it advertises on TV.Last month, J&J revealed its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2018, as it reported sales of US$20.4 billion. It also saw an increase of 1.0% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. In additional, its operational sales results increased by 3.3% and the negative impact of currency were at 2.3%. The company reported domestic sales increased by 1.5%, while its international sales increased by 0.4%. This also reflected operational growth of 5.1% and a negative currency impact of 4.7%.Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive officer, Johnson & Johnson said that the company delivered another year of strong operational sales growth of 6.3% and achieved its 35th consecutive year of adjusted operational earnings growth at 9.8% in 2018. According to its fourth quarter results, this can be attributed to accelerated underlying sales performance across each of its businesses, where it also leveraged its scale across the enterprise to improve margins.“Looking ahead, the strength of our broad-based business and disciplined approach to portfolio management positions us to continue to fuel investments in innovation that enable us to capitalise on strategic opportunities and deliver strong performance over the long-term,” Gorsky added.