ICYMI: P4ADNow In The News – Debunking Big Pharma, Fighting For Future Reforms, And Celebrating Recent Wins
Happy Friday! Here’s a quick media roundup featuring P4ADNow leaders and patient advocates in the news this week fighting for lower drug prices
1. In a new STAT op-ed, P4ADNow’s David Mitchell debunked one of Big Pharma’s newest lies: that the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act economically disadvantage small molecule drugs compared to biologics, which will hurt innovation, increase prices, and harm patients. “The Inflation Reduction Act actually narrowsthe advantage for biologics over small molecules,” David explained. “It’s time for the pharmaceutical industry to choose: Do biologics need more market incentives than small molecules, or not? If pharma wants equal incentives for all drugs, Congress should bring biologics in line with small molecules and equalize them both at no more than nine years of exemption from negotiation.”
2. Merith Basey, P4ADNow’s executive director, sat down with health and policy expert RJ Eskow on The Zero Hour and discussed the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act, the fight to push back on Big Pharma power, and the work to be done to increase competition, transparency, and equity in the drug price system. “Headlines in the summer… said ‘maybe for the first time pharma is losing its power in Washington’ – that is music to my ears!” Merith shared about the passing of the historic Inflation Reduction Act. “People are excited about these reforms. Do they go far enough? No… We will continue pushing for patients.”
3. North Carolina advocate Steven Hadfield shared his perspective with Cardinal&Pine about how the $35 monthly insulin copay cap for people on Medicare passed in the Inflation Reduction Act will benefit him this year. “I think that’s gonna be real good,” Steven said of the new insulin copays that went into place last month. “I live on budgets. I mean, I’m not making the money I used to make… [this] stuff should not be so expensive.”
Have a great weekend!
For the price of a month’s supply of blood cancer drug Revlimid, you could buy two tickets to the Super Bowl AND 11 tickets to Beyoncé’s upcoming Renaissance Tour.
Welcome To The Week In Review.
The State of Drug Price Reform
President Biden highlighted the ways the historic drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act are helping and will continue to help people across the United States in his State of the Union (SOTU) address this week. The new law is already providing relief for millions of people on Medicare like David and Marguerite, who both will benefit from the Medicare $35-a-month insulin copay cap provision and were guests of their senators, Tammy Baldwin and Mark Warner respectively, at the address. “As a diabetic and someone living on a fixed income, and as someone who didn’t make a whole lot of money back in the day as a teacher, I’m delighted to be saving close to two thousand dollars a year on my medicines, especially insulin,” said Virginia native Marguerite. Patients will next feel the impact of the reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act on April 1 when many patients who receive drugs at doctors’ offices and hospitals may have prescription coinsurance increases due to drug company price hikes limited to the rate of inflation. This means many patients who once were at the mercy of drug company price increases, may have their cost increases limited, delivering savings and more predictability. To ensure that patients continue seeing relief from the new law, the President strongly vowed to veto any attempts that Big Pharma allies might make to weaken the new law and raise drug prices. Earlier this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden made a similar commitment, pledging to stand in the way of any pharma attempts to weaken the Inflation Reduction Act. “Anybody [who] wants to water down the consumer protection provisions that we won after this titanic battle is gonna have to run over me,” he pledged at an event with Protect Our Care this week. President Biden also reminded the nation that the Inflation Reduction Act includes a provision that gives Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for drugs, which willresult in nearly $300 billion in savings through 2031 without slashing any benefits — debunking a liepeddled yet again by Big Pharma allies. The President’s message on Tuesday was clear: Thanks to the historic new drug price law, patients pay less and taxpayers save money. The state of drug pricing in the United States? A whole lot better than last year, but with more fights ahead to lower prices for all. — (NBC News, Endpoints, WisPolitics, Fredericksburg Today, Legacy Newspaper, Endpoints, P4ADNow, Fierce Healthcare, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy)
2. “Six Thousand A Month Would Ruin Us.”
We are in the midst of what may well be the “golden age of drug discovery” in which many patients for the first time have the hope of new, effective treatments that could treat or even cure their conditions. Currently, however, these miracle medications come with a price tag that pushes them entirely out of reach for far too many people who need them. For doctors and patients alike, this reality is heart wrenching. “The idea that the care you deliver could bankrupt somebody and hurt an entire family is devastating,” shared reconstructive urologist Dr. Benjamin Breyer. For patient Scott Matsuda, who lives with a rare form of chronic leukemia and suffered for years from terrible side effects of his chemotherapy drugs, the innovation of a new pill, Jakafi, was “amazing”. The drug slowed the progression of his disease with no side effects, but it would cost him $6,000 every month. “We are solidly middle-class. We pay all our bills. We have a good credit score. Six thousand a month would ruin us,” Scott said. So for a while he simply went without Jakafi, suffering horrible side effects from chemotherapy drugs and further progression of his disease before he finally was able to find financial assistance through a private foundation. Kentucky patient Sue Lee has had to entirely forgo her Humira, which she says was a wonder drug for treating her painful plaque psoriasis, all because AbbVie has had unfettered pricing power for the last 20 years, allowing the pharmaceutical giant to hike the price again and again. She hopes that biosimilar competitors for Humira coming to market this year might help drive down the price, but she worries the savings will be minimal, keeping the drug out of reach until the $2,000 Medicare out-of-pocket cap provision from the Inflation Reduction Act goes into effect in 2025. The fact remains: Drug corporations won’t stop setting unjustified prices unless we stop them. — (The New York Times, The Journal)
3. Bipartisan Senate Judiciary Votes To Lower Drug Prices
The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Chairman Dick Durbin and Ranking Member Lindsey Graham, passed out of committee, with bipartisan support, a package of five bills that will promote competition to lower drug prices for patients. The bills crack down on patent abuse, increase coordination between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to ensure patents are used to reward innovation and not to unfairly block competition, and investigate the practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). “Together these bills can help to restore balance to our drug price system and increase competition to lower drug prices for patients,” said P4ADNow executive director Merith Basey about the package. “The bipartisan support early in the 118th Congress demonstrates the public popularity of efforts to lower the cost of prescription drugs,” Politico reported. We agree – these reforms have been long-sought by patient advocates, and it’s time Senate Majority Leader Schumer brings these bills to the Senate floor and that all senators vote to pass them. — (Endpoints, P4ADNow, Politico)
Déjà vu: Yet again, Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson hiked prices of two critical blood thinners in lockstep at the beginning of the year. In January, Eliquis’ price was hiked by 6 percent (from $529 to $560), and Xarelto’s was hiked by 5 percent (from $516 to $542). Check out our report from last year for a reminder of how drug companies use methods like “shadow pricing” — a practice that Senator Amy Klobuchar and Representative Katie Porter requested the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice investigate.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
The Bills Aim To Curb Patent Abuses By Drug Companies, And Shine A Light On Secret Practices Of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by Merith Basey, executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, in response to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance a package of five bipartisan bills that would lower drug prices and promote both competition and innovation by curbing anticompetitive behavior committed by pharmaceutical corporations and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs):
“On behalf of patients all across the country, thank you Chairman Durbin, Ranking Member Graham, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing legislation to help fix key elements of our rigged drug price system. We fully support the bills to crack down on patent abuse, increase coordination between the FDA and USPTO to ensure patents are used to reward innovation and not to unfairly block competition, as well as investigate the practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Together these bills can help to restore balance to our drug price system and increase competition to lower drug prices for patients.
“We urge Senate Majority Leader Schumer to bring these bills to the floor for a vote as soon as possible, and we call on each senator to support the passage of this bipartisan package intact without any weakening amendments from Big Pharma.”
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Background:
A recording of this morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee markup can be watched here.
The legislative package includes the following bills:
S. 79, Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2023, establishes an interagency task force between the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the United States Food and Drug Administration to encourage collaboration on drug patents that will promote competition and lower drug prices.
S. 113, Prescription Pricing for the People Act of 2023, requires the FTC to examine the role of intermediaries within the pharmaceutical supply chain, including pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), and develop policy recommendations to prevent anticompetitive behavior and ensure savings are passed on to patients.
S. 142, Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act of 2023, cracks down on collusive pay-for-delay settlements by making them presumptively anticompetitive, a reform that would stop brand-name companies from artificially lengthening monopoly periods in an effort to keep more affordable generic competitors from reaching consumers in a timely fashion.
S. 148, Stop STALLING Act, eliminates drug company abuse of the Food and Drug Administration’s citizen petition program by defining sham petitions and deeming them anti-competitive under the Federal Trade Commission Act.
S. 150, Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act of 2023, defines product hopping as anti-competitive under the Federal Trade Commission Act and permits the FTC to undertake litigation against manufacturers engaged in this tactic; the bill also facilitates biosimilar market entry by limiting the number of patents a brand-name drug company can use to block competition from biosimilars.
The five bills can now receive votes on the Senate floor.
Welcome To The Week In Review.
The First Humira Competitor Has Arrived In The U.S.
AbbVie’s blockbuster drug Humira faces biosimilar competition for the first time in the drug’s 20-year reign in the United States. Amjevita, manufactured by Amgen, is the first of many biosimilars that are likely to come to market this year to compete with Humira and will serve as a key test of whether biosimilars will drive down drug prices in a meaningful way for patients. AbbVie has been able to raise Humira’s annual price to more than $80,000 over the last 20 years by exploiting the patent system, applying for more than 300 patents related to Humira (a shady tactic known as “patent thicketing”), and suing competing biosimilars to delay their launches. “The result is that we have been paying roughly five times what they pay in the EU for Humira,” shared cancer patient and P4AD founder David Mitchell. “And patients in the US have suffered economic and physical harm as a result.” Sue Lee is one of those patients. She took Humira to treat painful sores caused by a chronic skin condition called psoriasis, but when she retired and went on Medicare, the drug suddenly cost her $8,000 per year – which she couldn’t afford. Without the medication, her sores “came back with a vengeance.” With additional Humira biosimilars slated to be on the market in 2023, patients like Sue hope that the price of the medication may finally be reined in. But that outcome is “a little complicated” to predict. “With biosimilars, there can be different rules, and doctors will likely need to see big savings to want to push you over to this new drug,” explained NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin. “But there are expected to be several more Humira biosimilars this summer, and that could start to move the needle on price.” We sure hope so – patients have been waiting for this relief for far too long. — (Tradeoffs, The New York Times, Financial Times, NPR)
2. The Inflation Reduction Act? “I Think It’s Wonderful.”
The drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act that went into place this year are bringing much-needed relief to patients across the United States. Debra Coleman, who lives in South Carolina, was unable to afford the $150 it would have cost her for the Shingrix vaccine before the law passed. “I don’t have that kind of extra money,” Debra said. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, vaccines are now free for people on Medicare like Debra. The new law also caps insulin copays at $35 per month for people on Medicare – truly “life-changing” for Robert Brown from Wisconsin, whose insulin cost nearly $200 per month for the many years before the law was in place. Looking ahead, patients aren’t the only ones who will see relief from the Inflation Reduction Act – the new law likely saves the U.S. government significant funds. A new study published in The Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum found that if the provision allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for costly drugs had existed as the study modeled it from 2018-2020, Medicare would have saved $26.5 billion, or 5% of all drug spending. Considering the average price Medicare paid for brand-name drugs more than doubled from 2009 to 2018, it’s safe to say the drug price reforms are a welcome change to a rigged system. “I think it’s wonderful. It’s the first thing that came across my mind when I was standing in line at (the pharmacy),” remarked Debra on the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. “It was like balloons going up.” We agree, Debra. — (Greenville Business Magazine, WTMJ, NBC News, JAMA Network)
3. Big Pharma’s Big Lobbying
Big Pharma spent record amounts of money lobbying Congress and federal agencies in 2022 – yet the industry still suffered its biggest defeat with the Inflation Reduction Act becoming law. Open Secrets’ new analysis released this week shows that pharmaceutical and health product companies spent $372 million (more than any other industry) on lobbying. The Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $29.2 million on lobbying, making the trade group the top spender in the industry. Pfizer won the prize for biggest spender of any individual drug company, with $14.9 million on federal lobbying, and Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) was the third largest industry spender at nearly $13.3 million. Big Pharma’s power is no joke. “There are currently 1,834 registered lobbyists working for pharmaceutical and health products, meaning the industry has more than three lobbyists for each member of the Congress.” Despite all this power and spending, patients took on Big Pharma and won in 2022. We’ve seen signs of turmoil within the industry ever since – this week, generics manufacturer Tevaquit top industry association PhRMA, making it the second company to leave in the last few months. Politico reported that Teva’s move “follows a rare defeat in a years-long battle against Democrats’ drug pricing measures that included allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.” Looks like Big Pharma’s big lobbying doesn’t stand up to the will of patients. – (Open Secrets, Politico, STAT)
HEADS UP: Following this week’s hearing, we’ll be watching for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s upcoming markup and vote on a package of bipartisan bills that take important steps to address abuses of our patent system that inhibit innovation, block competition, and allow drug corporations to raise prices without restraint.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
My name is Melissa Evans and I live in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. Over the past two decades, the high prices of prescriptions have defined most decisions I make.
In 1998, when I was only 24 years old, I suffered a heart attack that changed my life. I could no longer work and struggled through the process of getting insurance through Medicare disability. During this time, I had no insurance and had to face the full list prices of my prescriptions –I had no way of affording any of the prescriptions that I needed. Still to this day, I don’t know how I survived those years without any medication for my health conditions.
I now live with a thyroid issue, skin cancer, asthma, heart conditions, hypoglycemia, and high blood pressure. To treat my diagnoses, my doctors have prescribed 20 medications. Each carries its own monthly copay and they can add up to $500 out of pocket in just one month, even though I now have Medicare coverage.
Half of the time, I can’t even fill my prescriptions because of the high copays. I’ve had to choose between filling my prescriptions, getting much-needed surgeries, and paying my bills. These decisions often seem impossible to make. If I don’t take my medications, I’m neglecting myself. But I still want to pay my bills on time and live a full life. I was previously pretty active, but my diagnoses and the high-priced prescriptions that come along with them have put my life on hold.
With such high drug prices, the new reforms passed by Congress through the Inflation Reduction Act will be a huge relief for me. I currently spend more than $2,000 in out-of-pocket costs by the middle of the year, even while rationing some of my prescriptions and going entirely without others. With the new Medicare out-of-pocket cap of $2,000 in 2025, I’ll see my annual costs reduced and be able to fill my prescriptions without worrying about going over the cap.
Also, one of the drugs I take, Linzess, will potentially be among the first eligible to be negotiated by Medicare, which could also lower my costs while saving the government money!
These reforms will truly be transformational for so many of the millions of patients struggling right now. I know so many other people in similar situations to me who ration their drugs and still worry every month about making ends meet. With consistent and lower costs at the pharmacy counter, the Inflation Reduction Act will make a world of difference for patients like us. This relief can’t come soon enough!
Welcome To The Week In Review.
“I’m Very Thankful For This.”
The drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act are continuing to provide much-needed relief to patients. A new report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that 1.5 million people on Medicare would have saved an average of $500 on insulin had the insulin copay cap been in place in 2020. “That’s more money in seniors’ pockets,” remarked President Joe Biden upon the release of the report. Senior William Koopman, who lives with type 2 diabetes and will see his insulin costs drop by more than half, shared, “I’m very thankful for this.” For Patricia in Orange County, Virginia, and Bill in Conneaut, Ohio, the Inflation Reduction Act has meant free access to the expensive shingles vaccine. “This vaccine will protect [Patricia] from an excruciatingly painful condition that affects more than 1 million Americans every year,” wrote Patricia’s Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, who supported the legislation. Had the policy been in place in 2020, 3.6 million people on Medicare would have received free shingles shots. These reforms are just the tip of the iceberg for how the Inflation Reduction Act will continue to help patients. “As other parts of the IRA are implemented, 2023 promises to be a year of behind-the-scenes action to shape what consumers pay at the pharmacy counter in the future,” Tradeoffs podcast reported in an interview with STAT News’ Rachel Cohrs. — (HHS, The White House, AARP, Fox News, Star Beacon, KFF, Tradeoffs)
2. Look Out, Big Pharma: Senate Subpoenas On The Horizon
Senate Democrats appear prepared to capitalize on their expanded majority this Congress by wielding their subpoena power to take on corporate corruption, including within the pharmaceutical industry. In December, Senate Majority Leader Schumer suggested that subpoenas will be key to the Democrats’ strategy this year. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who now chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, indicated he has plans to subpoena pharmaceutical executives to come before Congress. “We are living in a country today where drug companies are making huge profits while people split their life-saving pills in half because they can’t afford them,” shared the senator. Sen. Ron Wyden, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has indicated that he may subpoena drug corporation Amgen if they don’t respond to his repeated requests for the company’s compliance with the committee’s investigation into Amgen’s unusually low tax rates. We are glad to see these senators take on pharmaceutical corporation corruption and represent patients’ best interests. — (Bloomberg, Fierce Pharma)
3. New Congress, New Opportunities For Drug Price Reform
With a new Congress, comes renewed opportunities to fix our drug price system to ensure everyone has access to medications. In the Senate, Senators Grassley, Durbin, Tillis, and Coons introduced bipartisan legislation this week that would establish a task force between the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to encourage collaboration and aid each agency in boosting competition to drive down the prices of prescription drugs and other goods. “Congress must lead the way in making the patent system more accountable to the public,” the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK)’s Tahir Amin and Priti Krishtel wrote in an op-ed. And, more good news for patients, key members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have doubled down on their commitment to crack down on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) this Congress. Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability James R. Comer plans to hold hearings that look into PBMs, and Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden is encouraged by the commitment from members of both parties to work on legislation that takes on the middlemen. The New York Timesthis week laid out a third area that Congress has yet to address: The groundbreaking gene therapies coming to market at astronomical prices. These therapies are powerful treatments, and potential cures, for some of the world’s most devastating diseases, but, “the situation simply isn’t sustainable,” said Ruth Lopert, a health economist at George Washington University. “If it comes all at once and the payments can’t be stretched out, it will have a crushing effect,” shared Dr. Steven Pearson, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. We are committed to continue to work with Congress and fight for reforms until all patients can afford the prescription drugs they need. – (Office of Senator Grassley, The Hill, Roll Call, Politico, The New York Times)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Happy Lunar New Year! May the year of the rabbit bring you peace, longevity, prosperity, and lower drug prices ?
Welcome To The Week In Review.
Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Insulin Costs (And More) For People On Medicare
Americans are continuing to feel relief from the Inflation Reduction Act this week, starting with the $35 monthly insulin copay caps for people on Medicare. Steve Lubin, a retired intensive-care nurse from Philadelphia living with type 2 diabetes, is one of millions of people on Medicare who will see savings this year from the implementation of the new law. Last year, Steve’s out-of-pocket costs for his insulin totaled a shocking $1,582. In 2023, his copays will be capped monthly at $35 per prescription for a total end-of-year cost of $630. For thousands of patients, this is going to make a huge difference – between 2007 and 2020, people who received coverage through Medicare saw their out-of-pocket insulin costs quadruple and many were “rationing their insulin or couldn’t take it at all.” AARP’s Leigh Purvis put this new insulin copay cap into perspective in several TV interviews, explaining that this year, the Inflation Reduction Act will help 230,000 people on Medicare who use insulin in Florida, 140,000 in Ohio, and 60,000 in Wisconsin. Millions more throughout the country will feel relief as all of the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act go into effect over the next few years, including free vaccines for people on Medicare, curbs to drug company price gouging above the rate of inflation, a cap on Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs, and finally direct Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, Purvis told Spectrum News, many people on Medicare “are going to be seeing lower drug prices and lower drug costs.” — (The New York Times, ABC Action News, Spectrum News, News8000)
2. State Efforts To Curb High Prescription Drug Costs
Following the passage of federal drug price reforms, state legislatures and administrations are pursuing state-level drug price reforms to further rein in prices for their constituents. In California, Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit accusing Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and three of the largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) of violating the state’s Unfair Competition Law by increasing the price of insulin far beyond the cost of development and rate of inflation. Bonta characterizes the shady business relationship between PBMs, who negotiate prices on behalf of insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies as “pure profit padding.” California is the sixth state to sue drug companies for insulin prices, joining Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Mississippi. In Virginia and New Mexico, lawmakers are championing bills to establish prescription drug affordability boards that will oversee drug prices in the state. And Indiana lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 8, which would limit PBM greed by requiring the middlemen to pass discounts and rebates back to patients. Thank you to all these state lawmakers for boldly kicking off the year advocating for patients and combating high drug prices! — (The New York Times, The Center Square, KKOB, WFYI)
3. Case Study: Biosimilar Competition Reduces Drug Prices
The Journal of Clinical Oncology published a new study that found that the entry of biosimilar drugs for anticancer medication Herceptin, significantly lowered the price of both brand-name Herceptin and its five biosimilar competitors. Herceptin was granted FDA approval in 1998 to treat HER2+ breast cancer; since then, its manufacturer, Genentech, raised the price to a peak of $89,706 in 2019. The first biosimilar finally came to market that same year. After three years and with the introduction of five biosimilars, Herceptin’s price fell almost 30 percent to $63,592 in 2022. Today, biosimilar treatments are 40 percent less than Herceptin with a price of $38,173. This is a fantastic case of the drug price system working as it should – biosimilars drive competition and lower drug prices for patients who need this life-sustaining medicine — (The American Journal Of Managed Care)
Bonus: On Thursday, our all-star Legislative Director Sarah Kaminer-Bourland spoke as part of a panel at a joint public listening session held by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office and the Food and Drug Administration, where she discussed needed reforms that the two agencies can take on together to fix the rigged patent system, identify actors perpetuating the lack of equity, and lower drug prices as a result. Go Sarah!
The first of the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act went into effect on January 1. For people on Medicare Part D, vaccines are now free and insulin copays are capped at $35 a month. For patients, these reforms are life-changing, “The new cost cap will make a big difference. I won’t have to watch what I use. I can buy groceries,” patient advocate and former nurse Justine Miner, who lives with type 2 diabetes, shared with the Wall Street Journal. Patient advocate Jackie Trapp knows firsthand how expensive essential vaccines can be, she paid more than $200 out of pocket for her shingles vaccine, “I’m so relieved that future patients like me won’t have to spend what I did just to protect themselves from diseases like shingles.” The reforms remain popular among the American people, with majorities across the political spectrum supporting the Inflation Reduction Act and, specifically, the insulin copay cap. This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) outlined their plan for implementing the Medicare drug price negotiation provision in the law. “Today’s announcement is a critical step towards unshackling Medicare and delivering on the promise of drug pricing fairness,” Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden said upon the release of the plan. We couldn’t agree more. — (P4ADNow, P4ADNow, The Wall Street Journal, Navigator Research, Fierce Healthcare, United States Senate Committee On Finance)
2. Perpetual Pandemic Profiteering
This week Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the pharmaceutical company is considering quadrupling the price of its COVID mRNA vaccine as it moves to the commercial market. The huge jump in price to a range of $110 to $130 per dose from the current $26 per dose the company charges the U.S government, mirrors the increase Pfizer plans to make on its mRNA vaccine. This is just more pandemic profiteering on the backs of patients causing incoming Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders to pen a letter to Bancel calling the price increases “unacceptable corporate greed” and highlighting that the vaccine was funded by U.S. taxpayers: “You propose to make the vaccine unaffordable for the residents of this country who made the production of the vaccine possible. That is not acceptable.” — (Axios, Office of Senator Bernie Sanders)
3. Humira Hope For Patients
AbbVie has been gaming the U.S. patent system for years to maintain monopoly pricing power for its blockbuster drug Humira, which treats several debilitating diseases, including psoriatic arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. The company blocked any biosimilars from coming to market in the U.S. by building up a patent thicket of more than 130 patents, preventing competition and allowing AbbVie to increase the price time and time again to its current astronomical price tag of $81,590 a year. But change is coming — more than half a dozen biosimilar versions of Humira are expected to become available throughout 2023. Patients like Samantha Reid have been waiting for this moment for a long time. “Cost should never be a factor in whether or not people are in pain or suffering or not able to live their lives,” Reid, who has lived with Crohn’s disease since age 18, told the Chicago Tribune. But “it is, and the reason it is, is because companies like AbbVie charge so much for these medications.” P4AD’s David Mitchell added, “AbbVie, and how it has handled Humira, is the poster child for abuse of our patent system.” The next few years “will be a big test of how well can biosimilars perform to lower prices in this country,” Mitchell added. In Europe, where biosimilars for Humira have been on the market since 2018, the drug costs far less. It’s long past time for Humira to get some competition to drive down prices for patients who need this medication. — (Chicago Tribune)
