In recognition of World Diabetes Day, P4AD released a new report that tells the story of how the insulin pricing crisis came to be and what we must do to fix it. — (P4AD & NBC)
2. Something Must Change
A new study found that 34 million Americans know at least one person who has died after not receiving medical treatment due to cost — including drug prices. — (Gallup)
3. OK, Pharma
In 2018, prices for some of the most widely used drugs increased by more than double the rate of inflation. — (AARP)
4. False Claims Exposed
A new analysis found brand-name drugmakers could lose $1 trillion in lower sales and *still* be the most profitable industry sector ($@%#!?), all while maintaining current research investments.— (West Health)
5. Forced to Ration
In the U.S., patients are far more likely than in other developed nations to ration drugs due to cost. — (The New York Times)
It’s a good week when the government stands up to Big Pharma patent predators.
1. PrEP Yourself For a Showdown
The U.S. government filed a lawsuit accusing drug maker Gilead of ignoring government patents while raking in billions from HIV-prevention drugs (funded with millions in taxpayer investment). — (The Washington Post)
2. The Struggle is Real
A recent study found that more than half of Medicare enrollees face financial hardships, especially when it comes to prescription drug costs. — (Chicago Tribune)
3. It’s Not Working
The way we pay for prescription drugs is broken, but not beyond repair. H.R. 3 is a promising solution. — (The New York Times Editorial Board)
4. Her Insulin Costs More Than Her Mortgage
P4AD patient advocate Gail DeVore, a person with type 1 diabetes, shares her story about the crippling impact of sky-high insulin prices — (News 5 Cleveland)
5. 2020
A new poll in key battleground states finds health care — and that always includes drug pricing — is a top issue for voters in the lead up to 2020. — (Kaiser Family Foundation & Cook Political Report)
1. Let. Medicare. Negotiate. Already.
A sweeping Medicare negotiation bill saw hearings and markups this week. It’s moving, folks! — (Los Angeles Times)
2.Let’s Get the Job Done
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now has launched a multi-million dollar campaign to encourage lawmakers in DC to make history and lower drug prices. Patient voices will be heard! — (The Hill)
The public is demanding that Congress make lowering drug prices its top priority! — (KFF and JAMA)
5. Transparency in Action!
California passed a major drug pricing transparency bill in 2017, and the first public report stemming from that law is out. The new information is sure to inspire and inform future drug pricing reforms. — (Kaiser Health News)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to votes in the House Energy & Commerce Committee and the House Education & Labor Committee to advance H.R. 3, a bill that would lower drug prices for all insured Americans through negotiations, Ben Wakana, the executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
“A long day of hard work on drug pricing on Capitol Hill produced a good outcome for patients. H.R. 3 cleared two key House committees, and the public heard from a patient and experts during a robust debate in the Ways & Means Committee. Now is the time to press on and advance this bill into law. Patients are waiting, and we are watching.”
BACKGROUND:
Today, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a multi-million dollar campaign urging Washington to pass historic drug pricing reforms.
Eighty six percent of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. But under current law, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating directly with drug companies on behalf of taxpayers and Medicare beneficiaries.
Nearly 1 in 3 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed because of the cost. One in four have difficulty affording their medications.
Americans pay two to three times as much for prescription drugs as other wealthy nations.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers have a window to make history and lower drug prices, and a new Patients For Affordable Drugs Now campaign will urge Congress and the White House to seize the moment and act now. The multi-million dollar campaign will include TV, digital, and radio ads across the country featuring patients who support proposals in the House and Senate to rein in skyrocketing drug prices. Big Pharma is spending millions to distort, demonize, and relentlessly attack these proposals because the changes could actually break the rigged system that keeps their profits high and patients’ costs skyrocketing.
“Americans are being crushed by high drug prices, and we want to send a message to the White House and Congress: Big Pharma is spreading scare tactics and lies,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Legislation to lower drug prices must move now. If lawmakers side with Big Pharma instead of patients, they’ll pay in votes.”
Today’s campaign includes support for the:
House Drug Pricing Package (H.R. 3): The Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 would let Medicare negotiate directly with drug companies and make negotiated prices available to all Americans — regardless of insurance type. The legislation would also limit drug price spikes to the rate of inflation and cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors in Medicare at $2,000 per year. The House bill shares common ground with the Senate Finance package and the Trump Administration proposal to align the prices of US drugs to prices paid by other wealthy countries.
Senate Finance Drug Pricing Package (S. 2543): The Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act would penalize drug companies for price hikes above inflation and cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare at $3,100 per year.
White House’s International Pricing Index: Under the Administration’s proposal, Medicare would pay only 26 percent more than other wealthy countries for drugs administered by physicians or in hospital settings — that’s compared to the 80% more it pays today. According to polling, voters support the proposal by a 71-point margin (80% support vs. 9% oppose).
As part of the campaign, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now will release television, radio, and digital advertisements that show the toll high prescription drug prices are taking on everyday Americans, offer a suite of tools that encourage Americans to contact their elected officials in support of lowering drug prices, and share stories of patients suffering under prescription drug prices on social media.
The campaign will launch on Thursday with a national cable TV and radio ad. It will expand to local TV, digital, and radio ads in targeted Senate and House districts over the upcoming weeks.
Americans overwhelmingly support action to lower drug prices. Eighty-six percent of Americans — majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents — support allowing Medicare to negotiate. Americans pay twice as much for prescription drugs as other nations, and nearly 1 in 3 adults report not taking their medicines as prescribed due to cost.
Big Pharma is lobbying furiously to protect its profits, but Congress and the White House need to listen to patients.
This campaign comes on the heels of a campaign in August encouraging the Senate to enact the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019. That campaign thanked members for supporting reforms and held accountable those who opposed them.
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If the Nats can make the NLCS without Bryce Harper, surely Washington can pass drug pricing reform by the end of the year.
1. Patients Win in California!
California became the first state in the country to ban abusive pay-for-delay deals that keep low-cost generics off the market and out of patients’ hands. — (FiercePharma)
2.Big Price Increases, Because ?♂️
The top seven best-selling drugs experienced price increases with no reasonable justification. YOLO, said Pharma in response. — (Endpoints News)
3. Patient Groups Paid Off
Some of Big Pharma’s biggest players shoveled $650 million into hundreds of nonprofits last year — including those campaigning against federal drug pricing legislation. Things that make you go hmmm. — (Bloomberg Government)
4. Raising Her Voice
P4AD advocate and drug pricing hero Sa’Ra Skipper and her little sister live with type 1 diabetes. Sa’Ra almost lost her sister after they shared their insulin supply, and now, she’s speaking out. — (Patients For Affordable Drugs)
5. Bye, Felicia
BIO’s Jim Greenwood is resigning after the 2020 election. We hope the next BIO chief will bring drug pricing solutions to the table — instead of standing in the way. — (FierceBiotech)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Patients applauded California Governor Gavin Newsom today after he signed a first-in-the-nation law that will stop Big Pharma from cutting deals that block less-expensive generic drugs for state residents — a tactic that limits patient choice and costs taxpayers billions each year.
“Californians are done with Big Pharma’s shadowy pay-for-delay deals that block cheaper generic drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We are so glad Governor Gavin Newsom and the state assembly heard patient voices and turned AB 824 into law. We hope state legislatures across the country next year take up California’s pioneering approach to stop deals that hurt patients, and we applaud the efforts of Assemblymember Jim Wood and Attorney General Xavier Becerra for spearheading the successful effort.”
Leading up to the law’s passage, Californians wrote hundreds of letters in support of Assembly Bill 824.
Campaigner Cynthia Stockton, 73, a Sacramento retiree who lives with a seizure disorder, a brain tumor, and is a paraplegic, has been forced to ration food to pay for her medicine. Stockton advocated for Californians by supporting AB824 on social media and in a Sacramento Bee op-ed and editorial.
“They (pharma) just pay the companies off and keep these big-dollar prescriptions going so that generics are not made available,” she told the Bee. “And that made me mad because it’s like mafia control…so I started speaking up.”
In support of the measure, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, a Washington, DC-based patient advocacy organization that takes no money from the pharmaceutical industry, ran a 5-figure campaign, including digital ads to give Californians tools to contact their representatives in support of the legislation through letter writing and phone campaigns.
Target a practice called “pay-for-delay,” in which brand drug corporations pay generic drug makers to delay the marketing and release of cheaper generic prescription drugs.
Place the burden of proof on drug companies to prove to that pay-for-delay deals aren’t anticompetitive.
Provide the California Department of Justice a path to more easily to investigate anticompetitive pay-for-delay deals.
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Slow news week.
1. Fear-mongering: Activate!
The drug lobby is throwing mounds of cash around in an attempt to convince lawmakers that drug pricing’s status quo should remain. Voters disagree! — (Wall Street Journal)
2.Four Times More
The latest investigation from Congress shows the U.S. pays an average of four times more for prescription drugs as compared to other countries — and in some cases, 67 times more. — (The Fiscal Times)
3. Black Market Insulin
Virginia patient explains the choice she was forced to make to stay alive. — (Local12)
4. Myth Busted
Pharma’s biggest talking point — lower prices will kill innovation — is debunked once again. — (STAT)
5. ?? imports?
The Trump administration announced it’s on track to release an executive order to import some prescription drugs. — (The Washington Post)
