Crazy rich drug companies. DIY hospital drugs. A California Congresswoman in Big Pharma’s pocket.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.
1. Crazy Rich Drug Companies
These families banded together to raise money for research into a new medication for cystinosis. But then they were priced out of the resulting drug. — (The Daily Beast)
2. August brought hot temps and high drug prices…
A new analysis by Wells Fargo showed drug corporations raised prices on 60 drugs in August. The median hike? 9.9 percent. Seven drugs saw a 100 percent gouge. #becausetheycan — (Axios)
3. We oppose the re-election of California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
In California, a mom with multiple sclerosis can’t afford her medications. When a congresswoman does the industry’s bidding, Californians and Americans are harmed. — (P4AD Now)
4. Hospital drugs DIY
Fed up with shortages and rising costs, a not-for-profit organization is working to produce 14 generic drugs in hopes that the hospitals will pass on that savings to patients. — (Forbes)
5. Presidential tweets will not lower drug prices
While some manufacturers said that they are not planning on raising the prices of their drugs, others are unphased by the president’s tweets. Idea: Let Medicare negotiate. — (Forbes)
It’s Labor Day weekend, so you’re probably grilling and thinking about how Delaware outlawed gag clauses. Also, the Midterms are quickly becoming a referendum on drug prices.
1. Hattie’s Story
Hattie Saltzman, who lives with type 1 diabetes, grew tired of having to skip doses of insulin and splitting prescriptions with her dad for her life-sustaining medications. So she took a stand on national TV. — (TODAY)
2. Prices to be included on drug ads — but which prices?
It’s a little confusing. — (Forbes)
3. Gagged no more
Delaware is the latest state to make sure pharmacists can tell patients when it’s cheaper to pay cash to buy prescriptions than use insurance. A new law eliminates so-called “gag clauses,” the shady provisions written into pharmacy contracts by PBMs that forbid pharmacists from sharing this info. — (Delaware State News)
4. What’s the deal with rebates?
Patients For Affordable Drugs shared drug pricing principles on a proposed end to rebates in Medicare Part D in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. — (P4AD)
5. Midterms: a referendum on drug prices for seniors
Seniors and all Americans hurt and angered by rising prescription drug prices are primed to vote on the issue in the Midterms. Here are four questions they should be asking candidates. — (AARP)
BONUS shot — a PhRMA setback:
Political influence-peddler PhRMA is trying to knock down a monumental drug pricing transparency law in California, but a federal judge has tossed it out on procedural grounds — for now. Multiple sclerosis patient Victoria Stuessel played a role in the passage of the measure. — (NYT)
A dying patient records a message to a drug company CEO. Pharma middlemen royally rip us off. States revolt over drug costs.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. “I’m dying and you could save me right now.”
Cystic fibrosis patient Lora Moser faced $15,000 co-pays for a drug she fundraised to create. So she sent a YouTube message to the CEO of drugmaker Vertex from her hospital bed. — (KXAN)
2. A patient with Parkinson’s gets real about drug costs
Stahis Panagides, who lives with Parkinson’s, sat down with AARP to discuss difficulties affording 23 different medications every day. His family’s medical costs, including prescription drugs, add up to $23,000 a year. — (AARP)
3. Ripped off
Here’s why a patient who needed a stroke medication paid a $285 copay for a $40 drug. — (PBS)
4. Show us the receipts!
The Trump administration says its drug blueprint has already lowered prices, but we aren’t seeing it yet. Here’s why: — (The Washington Examiner)
5. Moving on up
Twenty-four states have passed 37 bills to help lower the cost of painfully high drug prices. As states rush to rein in prescription costs, Big Pharma keeps fighting to maintain the status quo. — (NYT)
A young man with diabetes loses his life to pharmaceutical greed. The EpiPen gets a generic in the midst of a frightening shortage. And a little boy begs Vertex Pharmaceuticals for his life.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.
1. Insulin prices killed him
We need lower prices now or the body count will continue to rise. —(NBC)
2. Ohio to drug industry middlemen: You’re fired
Ohio Department of Medicaid is firing pharmacy benefit managers, citing millions of dollars in taxpayer waste. Will other states follow suit? — (The Columbus Dispatch)
3. Governors have ideas
The National Governors Association has released a report on how states should lower drug prices. States have been much more active in passing drug pricing reform than federal lawmakers. — (STAT)
4. The FDA does its job
We’re happy about the approval of a generic EpiPen. Let’s hope it’s affordable. — (NYT)
5. A little boy begs Vertex Pharmaceuticals for his life
Luis, 8, wants the Boston-based drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals to lower the price of his cystic fibrosis medicine, so he can stay out of the hospital. But the drug corporation is playing hardball in the U.K. — (STAT)
Patients are speaking up about how Bob Hugin’s decision to double the price of a lifesaving cancer drug resulted in debt, bankruptcy, and financial pain for middle class families. Patients from New Jersey and across America are warning Garden State voters that Big Pharma CEO Bob Hugin made more than $100 million by raising drug prices so high that cancer patients were forced into debt just to stay alive. Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW is publishing the stories as part of an effort to lift up the patient voice ahead of New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race and shine a light on Bob Hugin’s unscrupulous record.
“Bob Hugin’s unethical behavior to block less expensive generics and double the price of cancer medications patients need to stay alive has real-world consequences best expressed by those who have been hurt,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient who took Hugin’s drug and president of Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW. “While he walked away with $140 million, people like Gulay Turan had to sell her furniture to afford the drug she needed to extend her mother’s life. Hugin cannot be a U.S. Senator.”
Read what patients have to say about their struggles to afford the prescription drugs Hugin price gouged.
For interviews with patients featured on the blog, contact Communications Director Juliana Keeping.
By Gulay Turan
East Rutherford, NJ
Gulay Turan maxed out credit cards and sold her furniture in order to afford her 66-year-old mother’s blood cancer medication, Revlimid. “I learned he increased the cost of my mother’s medicine by 100 percent in a decade, and I want him to know this action has consequences. The consequence is my mother is getting sicker, faster…If I could speak to the man responsible for the cost of my mother’s cancer medication, I would tell him about the heartbreak and crushing stress I feel.”
By Nancy Cartwright
Las Vegas, NV
To pay for the cancer drugs that kept her husband alive, Nancy Cartwright emptied her 401k, burned through her family’s savings account, and sold her family home. It wasn’t enough. Nancy and her husband eventually filed for bankruptcy. One of the drugs that forced the Cartwrights into financial ruin was the Celgene drug Thalomid.
“Besides bearing witness to my husband’s physical pain, I also witnessed the immense mental toll the cost of his medication took on him. It’s so hard to watch someone suffer and not be able to do anything to help. My hair even began to thin from stressing over his medication costs,” Cartwright said.
“I am facing as much as $19,167 a year just to stay alive”
By Jackie Trapp
Muskego, WI
Jackie Trapp, 53, who has multiple myeloma, must pay for Revlimid or a similar drug for the rest of her life. She worries she will bankrupt her husband of 30 years due to her medication costs. “With my current insurance, I am facing as much as $19,167 per year just to stay alive,” she said, adding “There is no justification for Celgene’s price hikes under Bob Hugin and no justification for lack of transparency into his former corporation’s price hikes. Bob Hugin is a dangerous choice for senator.
Paid for by Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW, www.fightpharma.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
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“Justice Dept. Investigating Claims That Drug Companies Funded Terrorism in Iraq.” That’s an actual headline in The New York Times this week. Also, Congress pushes for Medicare negotiations and an eye-opening look at patent games that cost patients.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.
1. Deep pockets, dark motives
After squeezing America for more profits, PhRMA’s reached into its deep pockets and pulled out piles of cash to throw at political activities. — (NYT)
2. Let Medicare negotiate
Claire McCaskill says it will save $3 billion. Mark Meadows says he’s having conversations about the policy change. Medicare negotiations get another look. — (Washington Examiner & The Hill)
3. Investigation underway
The Justice Department is investigating claims that Big Pharma money was used to underwrite terrorism in Iraq. –– (NYT)
4. Big Pharma, sky-high profit margins
The most disliked industry in America is the most profitable sector in health care. — (Axios)
5. Overpatented, overpriced
From the patent activists over at I-MAK, a new report that shows how excessive pharmaceutical patenting is extending monopolies and driving up drug prices. — (I-MAK)
Big Pharma CEOs are flush with cash. A bill that would help patients afford medicine clears a key hurdle. A mother’s desperation to afford her daughter’s insulin goes viral.
Welcome to the Week in Review in drug pricing.
1. It’s all about the Benjamins ?
Case study: Jeffrey Leiden of Vertex used charity dollars to create the drugs that are now priced out of reach for thousands of cystic fibrosis sufferers. He made $78.5 million in 2017. — (Axios)
2. Donald, Bernie, and 92% of Americans Agree
Let. Medicare. Negotiate. It will lower drug prices and benefit us all. — (STAT)
3. As soon as dad turns his back…
Pharma’s going to raise its prices again. — (The Washington Post)
4. The story behind one mom’s call for help to afford insulin
Doreen Rudolph tweeted that she is desperate to help her daughter afford insulin. It went viral because the public wants lower drug prices now. But GoFundMe is no way to pay for drugs.— (The Washington Post)
5. A small but important hurdle
Congress says it wants to lower drug prices. A gag clause ban is one of just a few bills to clear a key hurdle in the Senate. — (STAT)
P.S.
We released a digital ad this week in support of Medicare negotiation.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Temporary price freezes do not help patients afford drugs. A courageous woman wears a wire and exposes drug company corruption. And Congress puts AbbVie under the microscope.
Welcome to the week in review!
1. This is not a price decrease
Pfizer last week is not a price decrease. Novartis this week is not a price decrease. Merck’s announcement impacts 0.1% of its sales. This is not enough.
2. Peddling influence
A bombshell report details how drug companies seek to influence doctors, state officials, and keep drug profits flowing. — (Center For Public Integrity)
3. Up, up, up
Despite talk from the president, drug prices are continuing to rise. Here’s a look at 40 commonly prescribed drugs. — (Bloomberg)
4. Three’s a charm?
Under the cloud of Congressional scrutiny, drug maker AbbVie settled with a third biosimilar developer seeking to launch a competitive product to its billion-dollar blockbuster baby, Humira. Senators earlier this month asked the FTC to investigate and see if such practices are anticompetitive. We want to know too! — (Center for Biosimilars)
5. Importation?
It is not the long-term solution to lower drug prices. But it’s back on the table. — (The Washington Post)