1. We’re Drug Pricing Voters
- More than one-third of Americans cite lowering drug costs as a top issue influencing their 2020 vote. The numbers don’t lie: This November, Americans are looking for candidates who will stand up to Big Pharma and pass legislation to curb predatory drug pricing practices. — (Gallup)
2. Paying Twice
- A new analysis found American tax dollars helped to fund every new drug approved in the past decade. We’re paying billions of dollars to produce life-saving medications, only to be overcharged while pharma juices profits. Our rigged drug pricing system has to change. — (Institute for New Economic Thinking)
3. Profiteering Poster Child
- Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney plans to subpoena pharma giant AbbVie after the company failed to provide the House Committee on Oversight and Reform with requested information on blockbuster drugs Imbruvica and Humira. AbbVie has raised the price of Humira 18 times between 2009 and 2019. We’re glad to see the committee continue the investigation, which started in January 2019 under the leadership of the late then-Chairman Elijah Cummings. — (FiercePharma)
4. Made in Cali
- This week, the California state legislature passed a bill that opens the door for the state to become the first to produce its own line of generic drugs. The measure would require the state’s health agency to partner with drug companies to manufacture or distribute generics, helping to drive down the cost of expensive prescriptions. — (Kaiser Health News)
5. “PhRMA lacks standing”
- “PhRMA lacks standing,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said this week in response to a federal lawsuit brought by PhRMA that challenged the constitutionality of the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act.The legislation, named for a young man with type 1 diabetes who died after he rationed insulin, would provide an emergency supply of the drug to the numerous patients who struggle to afford the critical medication. — (MinnPost)