Welcome to the Week in Review.
Bipartisan Patent Thicket Legislation Unanimously Clears The Senate
Marking an important victory for patients, yesterday the Senate unanimously passed the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023 (S. 150), a bipartisan bill aimed at curbing the drug industry’s use of patent thickets to extend monopolies, limit competition, and keep drug prices high. The bill, championed by Senators Cornyn and Blumenthal, addresses Big Pharma’s exploitation of the patent system by restricting the number of patents that can be asserted on biologic medicines. A 2023 report by Matrix Global Advisors found that patent thickets on just five drugs — Humira, Imbruvica, Eylea, Enbrel, and Opdivo — delayed competition and cost patients more than $16 billion. Yesterday’s win would not have been possible without patients, their families and allies. P4ADNow’s year-long campaign, launched in July 2023, resulted in over 27,000 letters and over 30,000 calls from patient advocates into Congressional offices who mobilized en masse to ensure the Senate’s passage of S.150 and who are continuing to work to secure the passage of other bipartisan bills to increase competition and make medicines more affordable. “Accessing the medications that I need, at the quantities that I need them, could become easier and more affordable if more competition was allowed to enter the market,” shared Jacquie Persson, a patient advocate from Waterloo, Iowa who struggles to afford the medication she needs to manage her Crohn’s disease. P4ADNow is calling for swift action from the House to continue this momentum and ensure S. 150 becomes law soon as possible to begin to deliver relief to Americans of all ages. — (P4ADNow, Inside Health Policy, First Word Pharma, Endpoints, pharmaphorum, Coalition For Affordable Prescription Drugs, Patientspushforcompetition.org)
FTC’s Scathing Report On PBMs
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a 71-page bipartisan interim report following its two year investigation into the opaque practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Findings from the report confirmed what patients long suspected: the highly consolidated PBM industry, intertwined with insurance companies and pharmacies, wields outsized influence over drug accessibility and pricing. The report reveals how PBMs’ secretive agreements with drug manufacturers incentivize higher list prices and restrict access to cheaper generics and biosimilars. With the three most dominant PBMs – CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx – processing 80 percent of prescriptions filled in the U.S., the FTC is poised to take legal action against the companies for their anti-competitive practices. The scrutiny on PBMs will continue to intensify later this month as executives from the big three will testify before the House Oversight Committee on July 23. Reform of the PBM industry remains a top priority for P4AD and we will continue to press for a system that prioritizes patients. — (FTC, Scripps News, P4ADNow, New York Times, Forbes, Pharmaphorum, Healthcare Finance News, Axios)
Fact V. Pharma Fear Mongering
The Inflation Reduction Act maintains key incentives for research and development of small molecule drugs, despite fear mongering from pharmaceutical industry representatives. It was reported this week that Eli Lilly is acquiring Morphic Holding, a biotech company with a small molecule drug in Phase II trials, proving yet again the industry’s continued appetite for small-molecule drugs. In the nine months following the law’s passage, there was a surge in acquisitions of small molecule drugs compared to the preceding period and industry experts are projecting nearly 8 percent annual growth in global sales of small molecule drugs from 2022-2031, demonstrating continued confidence in the value proposition of this class of drug. — (STAT, Fierce Pharma, Endpoints, Brookings Institution, Precedence Research)
In Case You Missed It
Between June 30th and July 5th, pharmaceutical companies raised prices on 195 drugs – 50 percent of which were raised higher than the rate of inflation. Watch this space as P4AD dives deeper into the drug industry’s egregious price hikes and trends throughout the month.