I’m not sure if the courts would shoot this one down, the SCOTUS lately has been very much in favor of “commercial speech”, but it could be tied to the expedited drug approval processes used. His point is a valid one though, many of these drugs have, at best, a limited improvement on effectiveness for some people (tests on blood pressure medication found no benefit from the newer drugs.

It is the consumer who pays for these ads, both just covering the costs, and through people demanding new drugs from their doctors when the old drug works as well.