Welcome to the Week in Review.
TrumpRx Expands with AbbVie and Genentech Additions
AbbVie and Genentech have joined TrumpRx, bringing the total number of participating companies to 11 and the total number of drugs available through the platform to 69. AbbVie’s blockbuster medication Humira, which was the world’s best-selling drug for nearly a decade, will be offered for $950 per month, an advertised 86% cash discount. But, at $950 per month, the price is still unaffordable for many uninsured patients, and for those with insurance, lower prices are often already available through their plans. Additionally, lower-cost biosimilars — Abrilada ($207) and Amjevita ($299) — were already available through TrumpRx. TrumpRx is only helpful for a small subset of patients, and it does little to address systemic affordability challenges. — [CBS News, TrumpRx, Endpoints News, BioSpace]
Colorado Considers Orphan Exemptions to PDAB amidst Pharma’s Threats
Colorado lawmakers are considering a massive carveout to the state’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB), a first-in-the-nation effort to set upper payment limits on high-cost drugs. The PDAB has already demonstrated its impact — capping the price of Enbrel at $600 per 50mg dose, which adults typically take weekly, projecting $32 million in taxpayer savings for Coloradans. However, this proposed legislation would exempt nearly 70% of eligible drugs from review, drawing concerning parallels to the successful pharma-backed push to pass the federal ORPHAN Cures Act, which allows certain high-revenue drugs with multiple orphan indications to avoid Medicare price negotiation. Drug makers have threatened to pull their orphan treatments from the state if upper payment limits were applied to the products, claiming the loss in profits would hurt R&D. Such statements are the run-of-the-mill scare tactics from the industry, one of the most lucrative sectors in the world. Plus, drug companies already receive special incentives, including significant tax credits, to develop orphan drugs. Colorado has an opportunity to continue leading the nation on drug affordability through their PDAB, and this bill would move the state in the wrong direction by narrowing the board’s authority and excluding the very drugs whose prices need reining in. — [Colorado Newsline, Colorado Sun, STAT News, P4AD]
Ubl Out After a Decade of PhRMA Fearmongering
PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl announced he will step down at the end of the year after more than a decade leading the pharmaceutical industry’s largest trade group. During his tenure, Ubl has played a central role in shaping the industry’s favorite lie that lowering drug prices would come at the expense of innovation, while consistently pointing to PBMs and other parts of the supply chain to deflect from drugmakers’ pricing practices. Despite his efforts, significant policy changes have moved forward — including the drug pricing reforms in the IRA. Public trust in the pharmaceutical industry is also at an all-time low, and a majority of Americans blame the pharmaceutical industry for their high drug prices. — [Endpoints News, AV]
Patients For Affordable Drugs Expands Board Leadership
Dr. Utibe Essien and Jesse Fuchs-Simon have joined P4AD’s Board of Directors, alongside Chair Charles Hurley and Tomi Fadeyi-Jones, who have helped shape the organization since its inception. Dr. Essien, an internal medicine physician and UCLA assistant professor, focuses his research on improving access to novel medications. Fuchs-Simon is a real estate developer and attorney who co-founded AYUDA, an international nonprofit advancing youth leadership in diabetes communities. Together, they bring expertise across medicine, law, public health, and business – strengthening P4AD’s leadership at a time of growing momentum around drug pricing reform. The P4ADNOW board continues to be led by Chair Robert Jones, and has likewise grown over the past year with the additions of Dr. Gloria Tavera and Jamila Headley. Dr. Gloria Tavera is a physician, scientist, and advocate, and the co-founder of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM). Jamila Headley is a Caribbean immigrant from Barbados and a global health leader with more than 18 years of experience advancing health care and social justice campaigns across five continents. — [P4AD, POLITICO]
ICYMI: I-MAK released a new report this week, The Monopoly Extension Menu, examining how drugmakers abuse the patent system with techniques like patent thickets, formulation switches, and device lock-ins to extend their patents and monopoly power well beyond what’s intended. I-MAK examines three of the worst offenders, but these tactics are seen across the industry and result in fewer generic alternatives coming to market and higher prices for patients. — [I-MAK]
Patient Advocate Spotlight: Audrey Mclean
Condition: Stroke proclivity
Drugs: Lisinopril, Vyvanse, Buspirone, and other drugs
Background: Patient advocate living and working in New Jersey
In Her Words: “I have been on Lisinopril, a high blood pressure medication, since I was 26 years old because of my proclivity for and history of a stroke. After it came to light that I had a stroke back when I was 16 years old, my birth control medication shot up to around $900 a month. That’s not even mentioning how all my other medications have been on a steady and not-so-subtle price increase for the past decade or so, which is insane.
Thus, my rising prescription drug prices have slowly but surely made it near impossible, even as a hard-working blue-collar individual such as myself, to afford the medications that keep me alive and able to function.
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