Johnson & Johnson has announced on Thursday, Feb. 7 that it will begin showing product prices on television advertisements this year.

J&J To Include Medicine Pricing In TV Ads

The company stated that it will communicate relevant cost information, including the list price of the product before any rebates or discounts and out-of-pocket costs that the patients will have to pay to their direct-to-consumer (DTC) TV ads. The first product that will get this treatment is Xarelto, a popular oral anticoagulant, which the company said is its most frequently-prescribed medicine. Xarelto costs about $450 to $540 a month.

"We're starting with our most widely prescribed medicine so we can assess how the price and cost information is received by a broad range of people," Scott White, J&J's chairman, wrote in the public announcement. "We will take into account patient and consumer feedback in guiding roll-out to additional medicines we advertise on TV."

Transparency In Advertisements

The healthcare conglomerate is the first to offer pricing information on DTC TV ads. This was a response to U.S. President Donald J. Trump's call for greater transparency of drugs advertised directly to consumers on television.

Alex Azar, the secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services, praised J&J for the move.

"We commend Johnson & Johnson for recognizing the value of informing consumers about list prices and for doing so voluntarily," he stated. "We call on other manufacturers to follow their lead."

Azar's office authored the American First Blueprint in May last year, which aims to reduce the cost of pharmaceutical products in the United States as well as propose the disclosure of prices in ads for drugs on advertised television.

J&J also stated that the effort is in accordance of the PhRMA's Direct to Consumer Advertising Principles, which, in October, required member companies to direct consumers to an online platform where they can find pricing information for products advertised on television.

The pharmaceutical giant also promises to provide more relevant information about efforts to achieving a more sustainable healthcare system that "delivers greater access to care at a more manageable cost" via the annual Janssen U.S. Transparency Report.