Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. “The Inflation Reduction Act is a great, wonderful thing”
- It’s been 18 months since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and we’re still buzzing about the drug price reforms that are helping millions of patients see cost savings. Patients For Affordable Drugs (P4AD)’s founder David Mitchell, who is also a patient living with multiple myeloma, shared with KFF that last year alone, he paid over $16,000 for 12 bottles of Pomalyst, one of several drugs he needs to keep his cancer at bay. Thanks to the provision that caps out-of-pocket spending for patients on Medicare who use brand-name drugs at about $3,500, David has seen savings of more than $13,000 this year. Lynn, a retired nurse, and P4AD patient advocate who relies on a patient assistance group to help cover her drug costs, explained that because of the new drug price law she’ll pay nothing this year for her costly leukemia drug Imbruvica because the foundation’s first monthly payment covered her entire responsibility. Lynn told KFF: “For Medicare patients, the Inflation Reduction Act is a great, wonderful thing.” A new analysis by the Center for American Progress (CAP) estimated cost savings for a month’s supply of the first 10 drugs being negotiated by Medicare, ranging from $30 for insulin product NovoLog FlexPen to over $6,500 for Imbruvica. Medicare negotiation will provide monumental relief to the nine million patients on Medicare who use these 10 drugs, and who face some of the highest drug prices in the world. A new survey from KFF shows that more than half of voters are increasingly concerned about being able to afford their prescription drug costs, underscoring the need for successful implementation of lower negotiated drug prices. Patient voices were instrumental in the passage of the historic drug price law and will continue to play a pivotal role in defending these hard-fought reforms. — (KFF, CAP, KFF, Axios, The Hill, Business Insider, P4ADNow)
2. High Cost Of Cell And Gene Therapies
- The exorbitant launch prices of new cell and gene therapies entering the market are a major concern and burden to patients, and our health care system, and drive the question of who will bear responsibility for the cost. A recently approved therapy to treat advanced melanoma called Amtagvi was priced by Iovance at $515,000, which makes it the most expensive cell-based treatment in the United States. Unfortunately, this high price tag is just the tip of the iceberg in the emerging trend of specialized therapies hitting the market at astronomical prices. For Elizabeth, a professor whose four-year-old son, Eliot lives with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal neuromuscular disease, the innovation of a new gene therapy, Elevidys, was “science at its very best, close to a miracle.” Three weeks after a one-time infusion, Eliot went from experiencing extreme fatigue and limited mobility, to “marching upstairs and able to jump over and over.” Elevidys has the potential to treat this debilitating disease that affects thousands of patients, however, its $3.2 million price tag raises serious questions about the accessibility of this treatment for patients. We urgently need to address the high launch prices set by profit-hungry drug companies. Because as we know, drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. — (Reuters, STAT, Axios, The New York Times)
BONUS: On March 7th from 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m., combined oral arguments will be heard in New Jersey for all four lawsuits aimed at stopping Medicare negotiations —filed by Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), Novo Nordisk, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). These four companies each have a drug up for negotiation: Eliquis (BMS), Entresto (Novartis), Novolog (Novo Nordisk), and Imbruvica (J&J). While Big Pharma fights tooth and nail to undermine the widely supported provision in the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re advocating alongside patients for the successful implementation of the law that will deliver long-sought relief from high prices.