“Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine! I’m begging of you, please don’t hesitate.”
Welcome to the Week in Review.
- Your Move, Majority Leader
- The Senate Finance Committee’s tie vote sent Xavier Becerra’s nomination for secretary of HHS to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this week. Becerra clearly demonstrated his commitment to reforming the broken drug pricing system during his confirmation hearings. Patients need the majority leader to move quickly to bring the confirmation to a full Senate vote. — (The Hill)
2. Fight For Us
- On Wednesday, Oregon patient advocate Michael Nielsen delivered testimony in support of a state bill that would ban collusive “pay-for-delay” deals between brand-name drug companies and generic manufacturers. Michael, a disabled combat veteran, described how he and his wife, Jacki, were unable to afford her hepatitis C medication when it came with a price of $13,000 every 90 days. “I am asking our legislators to fight for patients like us.” — (The Lund Report)
3. Pattern Of Profit
- Pharma giant AstraZeneca sold its entire stake in COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna for about $1 billion last year. In 2020, Moderna’s stock price soared thanks to billions of dollars in investment from the federal government. It’s the latest in a pattern of drug corporations and their executives reaping huge profits from stock sales during the pandemic, thanks to taxpayers. — (FiercePharma)
4. Pharma Sees Permission To Price Gouge
- A new study found that treatment of rare diseases comprised only 21 percent of spending on 15 top-selling partial orphan drugs, which can be used to treat both rare and common diseases. Researchers are concerned that the orphan drug designation, intended to incentivize the development of drugs for rare diseases, is being abused by pharma companies hoping to extend their monopolies on blockbuster drugs. Once again, pharma takes advantage of a system meant to benefit patients — and instead uses it to fill its coffers. — (University of Michigan)
5. Holding Patients Hostage
- Drug companies’ January price hikes on hundreds of drugs are more than just another data point. For millions of patients, they represent an ever-increasing price tag on their lives. When Maria Miller learned that the price of her son’s drug for epileptic seizures had increased by another 4.7 percent, she broke down sobbing. “We are literally held hostage, and they’re using my son’s health to hold us hostage,” Miller said. “I don’t understand how this could become okay.” — (WTHR)