“All’s quiet on the Western front, but we’re still in the war.” That’s how John Kamp, executive director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, summed up the pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory issues. Big Pharma’s annual tussles with the Food and Drug Administration, not to mention Congress, seem to be at a standstill thanks to the coming presidential election. But both sides are gearing up for what could be an eventful winter. “The big thing that we all worry about is whether the tax deduction for advertising goes away,” Mr. Kamp said. “Advertising spending would go down, business would be lessened at ad agencies and you would see just a general decline in advertising.” That could be an unwelcome prospect, given that measured-media spending in pharma has steadily declined from its $5.4 billion peak in 2006, according to Kantar Media.
