Latest News | Oct 25, 2023

The Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing

Quick note to readers: This was Audrey’s last week (in review) at P4AD! She’s been honored to be in your inbox for the last couple years. We’ll be excited to announce P4AD’s incoming communications and media director very soon and we’ll see you here next week as usual. 

Welcome to the Week in Review.

1. Enrolling In Medicare? The Inflation Reduction Act Will Bring Savings

 2.  Patients Depend On Patent & Regulatory Reforms

3. Addressing Launch Prices Of Gene Therapies

PRICE GOUGING ALERT: This week we learned Pfizer plans to set the U.S. price for its COVID-19 antiviral treatment Paxlovid at nearly $1,400. That’s more than double what the government currently pays and far more than what it costs to make. Outrageous. 

Have a great weekend! 

My name is Henry Kracker, an 84 year old from Mansfield, Ohio. I am a retired children’s services agency director, living with diabetes for about 35 years and ATTR amyloidosis since July 2021, a rare progressive disease characterized by abnormal buildup of amyloid deposits in the body’s organs and tissues. 

I take a range of prescription drugs to manage my health, ranging from Eliquis, Jardiance, Hydralazine, Losartan, Atorvastatin, Torsemide, two kinds of insulin and a drug called Vyndamax for my ATTR. Vyndamax alone has a monthly list price of more than $20,000 and I am currently paying an average of $1,427 per month out-of-pocket ($17,124 annually). My Jardiance and Eliquis have list prices of $593.30 and  $560.75 a month which add another $1,100 to my out-of-pocket costs. Add in my insurance premiums of $6,000 plus and I’ll have an annual out-of-pocket cost of $24,224 for 2023. This is near 25% of my annual income. A cost I realize I can afford more comfortably than most. 

No patient should have to navigate this broken system – drug prices should be lower and fairer.

Fortunately enough, I can financially withstand my high medical costs, but there is nothing normal about paying thousands of dollars annually, for drugs that are meant to be life-saving or stabilizing. Even though I can afford my prescription drug prices at the moment, I believe that what I and many more people in different situations are being charged is completely outrageous. The tangible idea of affordable prescription drugs and lower drug prices is an idea about fairness. With profit levels well into the billions, something is very wrong here. The lack of concern these drug companies seem to have over this ongoing problem is alarming. 

Though it is still a work in progress, there is one step closer to affordable prescription drug prices for patients on Medicare, like me. Finding out that Eliquis and Jardiance are two of 10 drugs selected for drug price negotiations gives me some comfort, knowing that somewhere down the line, these two drugs will have lower list prices which will translate into savings from my out-of-pocket costs. 

Lower prescription drug prices are needed now. It is time to stop Big Pharma from their corporate greed.

Welcome to the Week in Review.

1.  Senators Celebrate Drug Price Reforms With Patients 

 2.  Medicare Negotiation: A Monumental Step For Patients

3. Momentum For Reforming Our Patent And Regulatory Systems

Have a great weekend! 

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Welcome to the Week in Review.

1.  A Big Win For Medicare Negotiation 

 2.  Push For Competition To Lower Drug Prices

3. Patients Need Affordable Vaccines

Have a great weekend! 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by Merith Basey, executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, following the announcement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that all of the drug companies making the 10 drugs selected for the first round of negotiations have agreed to enter negotiations with Medicare: 

“On behalf of patients across the country, we are very pleased to see all of the drug companies manufacturing the ten selected drugs have agreed to enter negotiations with Medicare. This marks an important milestone in our movement – for the first time ever, Medicare will now officially be in the process of negotiating lower prices for essential and costly medications taken by millions of people in this country including cancer treatments, blood thinners, autoimmune disease treatments, and some diabetes drugs. 

“People in the United States overwhelmingly support this law, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure the Inflation Reduction Act is implemented in the best interest of patients, despite opposition from drug companies. 

“These first 10 drugs are just the beginning – we will continue pushing on all fronts to lower drug prices for everyone.”

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Welcome to the Week in Review.

1.  A Big Win For Medicare Negotiation 

 2.  Time To Stop Big Pharma Patent Abuses

3. Sickle Cell Awareness & The Looming Question Of High Launch Prices 

BONUS WATCH: Check out P4AD’s Bilingual Organizer & Program Assistant Jesse Aguirre celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in this new video! Worth a watch.

Have a great weekend! 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued today by David Mitchell, cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to the decision in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Western Division denying the Chamber of Commerce request for a temporary injunction to stop Medicare from negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs: 

“Today’s court ruling is an important victory for patients and all Americans, and demonstrates the weakness of the industry’s objections to Medicare negotiation to lower prescription drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act. This is the first decision in the eight challenges that have been filed against the new law, and it sends a strong signal that drug companies and their trade associations will not prevail. Rather, the will of Americans expressed through the Congress will carry the day when all the legal arguments have been heard.”

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Welcome to the Week in Review.

1.  New Poll: Americans Oppose Big Pharma’s Assault On Medicare Negotiation 

 2.  Medicare Negotiation Restores Fairness

3. The Inflation Reduction Act: A Clear Win For Patients 

Have a great weekend!