Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Angus King (I-ME) introduced legislation to prohibit direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs.

“Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) today introduced the End Prescription Drug Ads Now Act, legislation that would ban prescription drug advertising on television, radio, print, digital platforms and social media,” a press release read.

“The bill would also answer Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s repeated calls to end prescription drug advertising, a position he promoted while campaigning for President Trump in 2024,” it added.

Big win for MAHA🔥

Senators Bernie Sanders and Angus King
just cosponsored a bill to ban drug ads

Now it heads to committee—momentum is building. pic.twitter.com/HAeNilz1Dc

— MAHA PAC🗽 (@MAHA_PAC) June 13, 2025

“The American people are sick and tired of greedy pharmaceutical companies spending billions of dollars on absurd TV commercials pushing their outrageously expensive prescription drugs,” Sanders said.

“With the exception of New Zealand, the United States is the only country in the world where it is legal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise their drugs on television. It is time for us to end that international embarrassment. The American people don’t want to see misleading and deceptive prescription drug ads on television. They want us to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and ban these bogus ads,” he added.

Fierce Pharma reports:

The proposal is likely to receive support from the Trump administration. Though the president has yet to comment on the bill, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would issue an executive order to halt drug ads on television.

Additionally, two days before the election, Kennedy posted a video of his speech from a Trump rally and wrote on social platform X, “Let’s get President Trump back in the White House and me to D.C. so we can ban pharmaceutical advertising.”

While Sanders and King voted against the confirmation of Kennedy to head the HHS, they’ve found common ground with the administration’s efforts to rein in the pharmaceutical industry, including President Donald Trump’s push to reduce the price of drugs in the U.S.

“Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is designed to provide information backed by fact-based research, so patients are better informed about their health care and treatment options,” a spokesperson for industry association PhRMA said. “We believe policymakers should ensure patients have access to the information they need to make health care decisions.”

Bernie Sanders is ready to help MAHA go after Big Pharma.

He just proposed a bill to BAN pharmaceutical ads from TV—and SLAMMED Big Pharma for k*lling tens of millions of Americans with their drugs.

The MAHA Revolution is here. 🔥

🧵THREAD pic.twitter.com/TrD5s4IJ0j

— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) June 13, 2025

Per Newsweek:

Sanders’ director of communications Anna Bahr confirmed to Newsweek his office has reached out to Republicans to join the bill. Bahr pointed to lobbying from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries as to why the U.S. has not joined other countries in banning the ads.

“Over the past 25 years, the drug companies have spent $8.5 billion on lobbying. Today, they have some 1,800 well-paid lobbyists in Washington, D.C. – including former leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties,” she said in a statement to Newsweek. “Unbelievably, that is more than three lobbyists for every member of Congress. During that same period, they have provided over $700 million in campaign contributions. And they are equal opportunity contributors. They contribute heavily to both Republican and Democratic candidates.”

Secretary Kennedy Jr.—as well as Elon Musk, who previously served in Trump’s administration—have expressed support for ending pharmaceutical advertising.