Welcome to the Week in Review.

P4AD Report Debunks Drug Industry Myths About IRA

This week, P4AD released a report dismantling Big Pharma’s false claims about the 2022 prescription drug law, highlighting how the law is already lowering costs for patients and taxpayers. The report reveals PhRMA, the drug industry’s largest lobbying arm, spent more than $235,800 on social media ads over a four month period spreading misinformation about the law’s “unintended consequences” as it relates to patient costs, access, and future innovation. The report rebutted each of PhRMA’s claims with data and evidence – proving that the industry’s assertions are misleading at best and outright false at worst. At a press briefing on Wednesday, P4AD’s president and founder David Mitchell, and AARP’s prescription drug policy principal Leigh Purvis, debunked these claims, calling out the industry’s desperate attempt to regain its complete monopoly pricing power. They underscored how the law is delivering tangible savings to millions of Americans while ensuring fair profits for the industry and safeguarding future innovation. After decades of Big Pharma’s unchecked pricing power, the 2022 prescription drug law is reining in drug costs, and patients remain committed to defending this progress. — (P4AD, Youtube)

RFK Jr. Selected As HHS Secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed yesterday as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), but after two Senate hearings last week, he offered little clarity on how he plans to lower prescription drug prices – raising concern for patients who urgently need access to affordable medications. With bipartisan interest in reducing skyrocketing drug costs and nine in 10 voters – on both sides of the aisle – demanding action, all eyes are on Secretary Kennedy. Will he champion reforms that put patients first or side with Big Pharma? — (Fierce Healthcare, P4ADNow, P4ADNow)

Rising Cost of Cell And Gene Therapies

New gene therapies are hitting the market with staggering price tags based on what the market can bear – not development costs. An investigation by ProPublica focused on one such treatment, Zolgensma, a $2.1 million gene therapy for children born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), which has become a prime example of how Big Pharma sets drug prices. Despite critical early grassroots fundraising and taxpayer-funded grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Zolgensma’s price was driven by Wall Street projections and a calculated pricing strategy. Novartis leveraged value-based pricing studies that floated prices as high as $5 million, helping to condition the market toward accepting an astronomical price tag. The final $2.1 million price was framed as a “compromise,” even though it had little to do with actual R&D costs and everything to do with maximizing profits for investors. This approach has set a dangerous precedent: new gene therapies can now leverage these prior launch prices as justification for setting even higher ones. Since Zolgensma’s debut, cell and gene therapies like Hemgenix ($3.5M) and Lenmeldy ($4.25M) have pushed the ceiling higher, straining public programs like Medicaid and Medicare. As P4AD’s David Mitchell told ProPublica, “every time the benchmark moves up, they think, ‘Well, we can get away with more.” Without reforms to rein in high launch prices, patients and taxpayers will continue to pay the price for Pharma’s unchecked greed. — (Drug Discovery Trends, ProPublica)

In Case You Missed It
Payouts to shareholders of major drug companies like Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer more than tripled over the past two decades, according to a new study published in JAMA. Meanwhile, patients continue to struggle to afford their essential medicines as a result of Big Pharma’s anti-competitive tactics. 

Subscribe to the WEEK IN REVIEW here.