President Trump puts “Big Pharma” on notice
News | By Easton Martin | September 10, 2025
President Donald Trump signed a memorandum directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to step up enforcement of existing rules governing direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, especially for misleading or incomplete ads.
The directive includes the issuance of roughly 100 cease-and-desist orders and thousands of warning letters to pharmaceutical companies and online pharmacies that fail to adequately disclose drug risks in their ads. The effort aims to close the longstanding “adequate provision” loophole, established in 1997, which allowed condensed disclosures in broadcast advertisements while deferring full risk information to websites or toll-free numbers.
As part of the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in pharmaceutical marketing. The administration’s push responds to concerns about deceptive advertising and the growing use of social media and influencers to promote drugs without full safety information.
No further presidential actions on this matter are currently planned, but this enforcement surge marks a significant shift from recent years, when few or no enforcement letters were issued.
