Welcome to the Week in Review.

High Healthcare Costs Force Sacrifice and Life Delays for Americans

In the last year, 29% of Americans delayed taking a vacation, 26% delayed medical treatment, and 11% skipped meals, all due to the high cost of healthcare. That’s according to a new West Health-Gallup study examining how rising out-of-pocket healthcare costs are affecting Americans. The study found that roughly one-third of respondents, roughly 82 million Americans, made at least one trade-off last year to afford healthcare-related costs, including prescription drugs. Nearly one in 10 adults — or an estimated 24 million Americans — say they have postponed their retirement due to healthcare costs, and an estimated 18 million Americans report delaying a job change. It’s an issue harming Americans across income levels but far more common among people who do not have health insurance. Patients shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice basic needs and major life plans just to afford staying healthy. — [Gallup, Washington Post, Axios]

Ozempic & Wegovy Could Be Produced at $3 — But Not In America

When key semaglutide patents expire this month in countries including India, Canada, China, Turkey, and Brazil, generic versions of the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy could be produced for as little as ~$3 per person per month at the standard dose of 2.4 milligrams per week. While that figure reflects estimated manufacturing cost — not final retail price — it underscores how dramatically U.S. list prices are marked up at the expense of American patients, even after Novo Nordisk’s recent price cuts. As generic access expands abroad, the contrast will further expose how America’s patent system enables manufacturers to extend monopolies through dense patent thickets and block lower-cost competition.  — [MedRxIV, STAT News, Wall Street Journal]

FDA Moves to Streamline Biosimilar Approvals

The FDA issued new draft guidance allowing biosimilar manufacturers to rely on comparison data from products approved outside the United States, reducing duplicative study requirements. This comes after the FDA’s December draft guidance, which would eliminate unnecessary “switching” studies when clinical evidence already demonstrates equivalence to the reference brand-name drug. Together, these steps could accelerate biosimilar entry and build on the $56 billion in savings biosimilars have generated since 2015. P4AD supports reforms such as the bipartisan Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act, which would codify many of these practices into law. But regulatory streamlining alone won’t fix a market still shaped by patent thickets, pay-for-delay deals, and formulary tactics that suppress uptake. These structural barriers must be addressed in tandem so that faster approvals can translate into lower prices at the pharmacy counter.  — [Axios, Bloomberg Law, Congress, Bloomberg, UnDark]

In Case You Missed It

This week, Yale launched their new Health Care Affordability Lab led by Dr. Zack Cooper to promote policy to lower healthcare costs, including research summaries and data visualization tools. — [Yale]

Patient Advocate Spotlight: Samantha Norris

Condition: Hodgkin’s lymphoma
Drug: Chemotherapy and cancer medications (priced at over $1 million a year) 
Background: Tenant rights lawyer living in Auburn Hills, Michigan

In Her Words: “The drugs keeping my Hodgkin’s lymphoma in remission are priced at more than $1 million a year. I’m currently $20,000 in debt due to my health challenges, including covering the exorbitant prices of my medications. Bills arrive all the time, and I’m overwhelmed by the prices of my drugs.”

“To keep advocating for others, I need to afford my medications. But with prices so high, there are no guarantees I’ll be able to afford the medicine I need to live. Congress needs to understand what is at stake for me and other cancer patients and lower the prices of our prescription drugs.”

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