This week the world welcomed a royal baby! However, unless your name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, you’ll probably still have to worry about the high cost of prescription drugs.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. “It’ll be a big fight”
- Novartis is gearing up to release a gene therapy that could save children living with the most severe type of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. But at $2 million for a course of therapy, parents aren’t sure their children will ever receive it. — (The Wall Street Journal)
2. Sky high in July
- A finalized rule from HHS will require that drug companies include the list price of drugs in ads. It goes into effect July 9. — (TIME)
3. Reference this
- A groundbreaking study from Johns Hopkins University shows how International Reference Pricing could save the government and patients BILLIONS! — (Health Affairs)
4. Patently absurd
- Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary hearing on drug company patent abuses included P4AD’s very own David Mitchell, who discussed the human impact of Big Pharma’s abusive patent games. — (Kaiser Health News)
5. Robber barons would blush
- Senators John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, and Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, proposed legislation this week to stop drug companies’ abusive patent tactics that block competition and crush taxpayers and patients. — (Bloomberg)
We would be remiss if we did not note the passing of one of the deans of health journalism, The New York Times’ Robert Pear. We will miss his kind spirit, tenacious reporting, and brilliant mind.
Robert, Thank You.