WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to the House Energy and Commerce Committee passing the CREATES Act and legislation to end pay-for-delay tactics, David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
“Many Americans have lost faith in Congress’s ability to fix problems. Today, the Energy and Commerce Committee proved that small but important bipartisan reforms are still possible. I appreciate Chairman Pallone, Ranking Member Walden, and members on both sides of the aisle for working on one of the most critical issues facing Americans — skyrocketing prescription drug prices.
“Today’s actions must be the first step by this Congress on the path to lower drug prices, not the last. Even when these bills are signed into law, Americans will still go into debt at the hands of drug companies.
“More action is required to fix our broken system and lower prescription drug prices. We look forward to working with Congress to see further reforms enacted.”
BACKGROUND:
REMS ABUSES: Brand drug companies use a safety program called Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) as a pretext for not selling drug samples to generic companies, which need the brand product in order to develop an equivalent and lower-priced competitor. The CREATES Act would address delay tactics that are used by brand drug manufacturers to block lower-priced generic drugs. The U.S. could save $3.9 billion by stopping this abuse, which the FDA has called “unfair and exploitative.”
PAY-FOR-DELAY: Brand drug companies pay off generic companies that plan to bring a competitor to market. In exchange for this payment, the generic manufacturer delays its product’s entry into the market. HR 1449, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act would limit deals in which brand and generic drug manufacturers use anti-competitive pay-off agreements to delay cheaper generic and biosimilar drugs from reaching patients.
PATIENT PERSPECTIVE:
Celgene’s cancer medication, Revlimid, tops a list maintained by the FDA that highlights which brand pharmaceutical corporations are blocking generic competition. The maneuver puts patients like Pam Holt’s life and financial wellbeing at risk. The cancer patient took on $10,000 in debt and refinanced her home to afford Revlimid, telling Patients For Affordable Drugs:
“Celgene, the company that makes Revlimid, should be giving samples to generic drug makers so they can make a cheaper version, but it repeatedly refused to do so. Celgene is abusing a loophole in our laws to keep the price high. The company keeps raising the price simply because it can. And, I keep taking on debt.”
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If Alanis Morissette released her iconic album today, would it be called Jagged Little Overpriced Pill?
Welcome to the Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing.
1. Fear the Turtle
2. Taxpayers pay twice
3. Highway Robbery
4. Sticker shock won’t lower drug prices
5. Does not compute
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington patients are one step closer to relief from skyrocketing prescription drug prices. SB 5292 and HB 1224 — legislation that would shed light on drug manufacturers’ pricing behavior — passed key policy committees recently and heads to the fiscal committees this week. Given the recent momentum, patients are speaking out about the devastating impact of rising drug prices and explaining how drug pricing legislation would help protect the state and residents from price hikes.
“Washington residents have been sending a clear message to lawmakers in support of the state’s effort to shed a light on rising prescription drug prices,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We all pay for Pharma’s unfettered greed, and Washington residents are struggling to fill both the kitchen pantry and the medicine cabinet. The status quo needs to change, and SB 5292 and HB 1224 are a step in the right direction.”
Patients Take Action: Last week, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new digital campaign to give Washington residents tools to contact their elected officials in support of measures to address rising drug prices. The campaign has included:
Washington Legislation would:
Patients Speak Out:
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In a groundbreaking move, the Maryland House of Delegates voted 98-40 to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board, an independent body with the authority to evaluate high-cost prescription drugs and set rates for state and local governments to pay. The bill, HB 768, now moves to the Maryland Senate Finance Committee with a chance to set a model for the nation and fundamentally reshape how states address skyrocketing prescription drug prices.
“Maryland residents have been sending letters and making calls to lawmakers in support of the state’s effort to get a better deal on prescription drugs,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We all pay for Pharma’s unfettered greed, and Maryland residents are struggling to fill both the kitchen pantry and the medicine cabinet. The status quo needs to change, and the Prescription Drug Affordability Board can be a national model.”
The Prescription Drug Affordability Board bill, sponsored by Senator Katherine Klausmeier and Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk would:
In January, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a five-figure campaign to give Maryland residents tools to contact their elected officials in support of measures to address rising drug prices. The interactive digital tools allow residents to contact their senators and representatives in support of the proposed changes. P4ADNow is working in support of the legislation along with partners including the Maryland Health Care For All Coalition, AARP Maryland, and the NAACP.
According to recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 25 percent of Americans say they trust drug corporations to price their products fairly, down from 41 percent in 2008.
Patient Perspective
Stahis Panagides is a Marylander, Parkinson’s patient, and Medicare recipient whose life has been directly impacted by skyrocketing prescription drug prices.
“My doctor recently prescribed Rytary to mitigate my disease. But even with my robust Medicare plan, I am not able to afford the $400 monthly price tag on this drug. It’s heartbreaking to know that there’s a drug out there that could treat my symptoms, but I can’t access it because the price is just too high,” Stahis told Patients For Affordable Drugs Now.
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is a bipartisan national patient organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. To maintain its independence, the group does not accept donations from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of prescription drugs.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. — As key hearings are expected this week on two drug pricing bills in the Washington state legislature, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new digital campaign to give Washington residents tools to contact their elected officials in support of measures to address rising drug prices. The bills — SB 5292 and HB 1224 — would shed much-needed light into the pricing tactics of drug companies. By requiring that Big Pharma report and provide explanations for increases in drug prices, the bills are an important step toward ensuring that all patients can afford the medications they need.
“Passing this legislation would mean drug corporations won’t be able to blindside patients and taxpayers with arbitrary price hikes,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Washingtonians deserve to know why their drugs are so expensive, and SB 5292 and HB 1224 are a step in the right direction.”
Each bill is scheduled for key committee votes this week, and patients have already begun to send letters in support of the bill. Washington’s drug pricing legislation would help protect the state and residents like retired forester Mike Gaffney from price hikes. Gaffney, of Olympia, testified earlier this month that he lives with a rare form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. The price for his cancer medication, Revlimid, skyrocketed 20 percent in 2017 alone. The drug now costs $250,000 a year.
SB 5292 and HB 1224 would:
The Facebook ads above are part of a five-figure campaign in support of legislation to lower drug prices. The interactive digital tools allow residents to contact their senators and representatives in support of the proposed changes.
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is a bipartisan national patient organization focused exclusively on policies to lower drug prices. To maintain its independence, the group does not accept donations from organizations that profit from the development and distribution of prescription drugs.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now released a new digital ad in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to adopt an International Pricing Index to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B.
Watch the video here.
Under the 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 percent more it pays today. But Big Pharma is attacking the International Pricing Index because the changes could actually rein in outrageous drug prices.
In a new video, cancer patient and Patients For Affordable Drugs Now founder David Mitchell debunks the myths that drug corporations are spreading about the International Pricing Index. Mitchell points out that, under the changes, his drug prices would drop by $100,000, and his access to life-sustaining treatment would remain exactly the same.
“There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000,” Mitchell says in the video. “ But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it. Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs. None of that is true.”
The video release is part of a nationwide, nearly $1 million campaign in support of the International Pricing Index that includes ads on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google. The ads urge Americans to contact their senators and representatives in support of the proposed changes.
According to a recent poll, voters support the HHS proposal to lower drug prices by a 71-point margin (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties agree that Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal.
Importantly, Americans find Big Pharma’s claim that the proposed reforms would hinder patient access to be wrong. Eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. That’s bolstered by the fact that nine out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies actually spend more on advertising and marketing than on research and development, according to The Washington Post. There is no evidence the proposed Part B changes would impact patient access to drugs unless drug corporations withhold drugs from patients.
TRANSCRIPT
I have incurable blood cancer.
The drugs keeping me alive are priced at $325,000 a year.
There’s a bipartisan plan in Washington that would lower the price of my drugs by $100,000.
But Big Pharma has mobilized its message machine, lobbying furiously and spending millions to stop it.
Pharma says it will stifle innovation, allow government bureaucrats to control my health care, block my access to these drugs.
None of that is true.
The truth is the International Pricing Index keeps all the protections we now have to ensure access to these drugs.
It just brings the prices we pay in the US more in line with what other countries pay.
We can’t let Big Pharma and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with their millions of dollars of high-powered lobbyists stop this proposal from taking effect that would help so many Americans.
Tell your members of Congress to support the International Pricing Index.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the price of specialty drugs explodes, more and more Americans are going without the prescriptions they need, data from two new government reports show. According to the Congressional Budget Office, net spending on speciality drugs in Medicare Part D increased by more than 275 percent — from $8.7 billion to $32.8 billion — over a recent five year period. Meanwhile, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows one in 10 Americans are rationing medication. The uninsured are more vulnerable to egregious hikes, with one-third reporting rationing medication in response to high drug prices.
Specialty drugs — expensive medications that treat serious and life-threatening conditions like cancer, cystic fibrosis, and multiple sclerosis — are driving the spending, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office shows. Specialty drugs introduced after 2015 are driving the trend; in Medicare Part D, the drugs accounted for nearly one-third of net spending but less than 1 percent of all prescriptions.
The statistics only tell part of the story.
Ohio resident Bob Fowler, 68, has private insurance today and has delayed his retirement while battling cancer to avoid paying the king’s ransom in cost sharing he’d owe under Medicare Part D for his multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid.
“I want to live many more years in spite of my blood cancer,” Fowler said. “To have a shot at that, I need two things: life-saving drugs at an affordable price.”
CBO and CDC KEY FINDINGS:
Taxpayer spending on specialty prescription drugs has exploded.
Patient out-of-pocket costs soared in Medicare, but less so in Medicaid.
In response to soaring prices, patients are going without their medications.
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Will PhRMA partner with Lori Loughlin in an attempt to improve its reputation?
1. Bonuses for bad behavior
2. She sold everything — twice
3. Isn’t sepsis frightening enough?
4. Everyone gets a piece of the pie
5. We’re not gonna take it