Happy Veterans Day! Hope everyone is resting up post-election.
Welcome To The Week In Review.
Drug Pricing + The Election
While the final outcome of the midterm elections continues to hang in the balance, one thing is certain: A key part of the Democrats’ campaign for Congress was the new drug price law. The New York Times reported: “Democrats touted [their policies including] capping the cost of some prescription drug prices and insulin for Medicare recipients.” NBC wrote: “Both sides of the aisle tackled inflation in their ads, with Democrats primarily touting their efforts to lower prescription drug prices.” As we know, the drug price reforms from the Inflation Reduction Act are very popular with voters. Despite calls from some Republican senators to repeal the provisions, the law is likely here to stay, regardless of the outcome of the election. That’s good news for patients and taxpayers alike. — (The New York Times, NBC, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal)
2. We Need Patent Reform
Drug companies abuse the U.S. patent system to maintain monopolies on drugs, keep raising prices, and maximize profits. This week, Insider took a look at one of the worst offenders: Humira, a drug that treats several debilitating diseases, including severe arthritis, Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis. Its manufacturer, AbbVie, has been gaming the patent system for years – the company filed for over 300 patents and received over 160 patents on Humira, preventing any generics from coming to market in the United States. AbbVie has raised the price of Humira – which has remained basically the same drug – 500% since it came to market 20 years ago. The result? Americans pay up to $3,000 per Humira pen. Comparatively, generic forms have been on the market for years in Europe, where patients pay 90 percent less for the same drug. Priti Krishtel, one of this year’s MacArthur Foundation’s “genius” award winners, spoke to Insider about the unjust U.S. patent system, saying, “I just don’t think that people should have to pay their life savings for life-saving medicines.” She added, “We’re going to have to design a health system that works for Americans, and that is designed by Americans.” We’re with you, Priti! It’s time to reform our patent system to bring an end to drug company abuses and lower prices for patients. — (Insider)
3. Lower Drug Prices Now
Americans continue to struggle to afford their prescription drugs. According to a new AARP report, nearly 1 in 5 adults between the ages of 40 to 64 said they’ve decided not to take medication as prescribed in the past 12 months because of cost. Annals of Internal Medicine’s report from last month estimated 1.3 million U.S. adults with diabetes rationed their insulin in the last year. The Washington Post uplifted the findings this week, highlighting that rationing was more common among lower and middle-income participants as well as Black participants. “The price of the four most popular types of insulin has tripled in the past decade,” the Post reported. A drug corporation cartel controls the world’s insulin market. It must change. We need lower drug prices now. — (AARP, The Washington Post)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
This No-vember we’re saying no to high drug prices.
Welcome To The Week In Review.
Sheldon and President Biden
On Tuesday, patient advocate Sheldon Armus, a Medicare beneficiary from Boynton Beach, FL, shared his story about the high price of his heart medications and introduced President Biden, thanking him for passing the Inflation Reduction Act which will lower drug prices and improve the health of millions of patients. “Knowing that we have leaders like President Biden fighting to bring down our drug prices — not keep money in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies — means the world to seniors like my wife and myself, who have been waiting on this relief for years,” Sheldon shared before introducing the president. President Biden delivered remarks about lowering prescription drug costs through the Inflation Reduction Act, and called out Florida Senator Rick Scott, who has been pandering Big Pharma lies about the drug price reforms in the new law. In addition to introducing the president, Sheldon also penned a letter-to-the-editor expressing his frustration that his senator Marco Rubio cosponsored a bill that aims to reverse the drug price reforms passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. “Finally, Congress passed a law to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and Senator Rubio wants to reverse it?! Makes no sense.” We are grateful to Sheldon for sharing his story with President Biden and for telling his Florida senators that patients like him are counting on the new drug price law to deliver relief. — (P4ADNow, Politifact, Sun Sentinel)
2. Patients Say No To GOP Bill
There was significant pushback this week to four Republican senators’ so-called Protect Drug Innovation Act, which aims to reverse the life-changing drug price reforms recently passed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. A flurry of letters and op-eds fromaroundthecountrycalled out Senators Lankford (OK), Lee (UT), Lummis (WY), and Rubio (FL)’s recent effort to force Americans to pay more for their prescriptions. “It’s so disappointing to see Lee lead the effort to repeal these reforms before they are even fully implemented,” Marion Lennberg, a retiree in Salt Lake City, penned in an op-ed. “Utah seniors and their families are depending on all our elected leaders to put our needs ahead of political partisanship and corporate greed.” Meg Jackson-Drage, from Magna, UT who lives with fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, both of which require costly medication, wrote, “Sen. Lee spews Big Pharma lies while he tries to make sure drug companies can continue to price gouge me for my prescriptions. I don’t understand how he can put drug company profits ahead of the needs of his constituents by pushing for the repeal of reforms that lower drug prices.” — (Door County Pulse, Altoona Mirror, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Montana Standard, Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake Tribune)
3. No Good Reason For High Rx Prices
A new study this week from JAMA found that cancer drugs aren’t priced based on effectiveness for patients. The study indicates “this suggests that cancer drugs are priced based predominantly on what the market will bear,” and thus what will bring in the most cash for Big Pharma. And the industry seems to have quite a large spending budget lately. Another new study from JAMA found a 70 percent increase in health industries’ spending on federal lobbying from 2000 to 2020. “PhRMA, the big drug industry lobby, has wielded the most power within the health care sector since 2017,” Axios reported. “It broke records on spending during the political battle over drug prices.” Clearly Big Pharma has plenty of money to spend. Then why do they make patients pay so much for drugs? Because all they care about is their bottom line. — (Medscape, Axios)
4. Patients Are Suffering From High Drug Prices
Americans across the country are unjustly affected by outrageously high drug prices. “Since COVID, we’ve seen the price of medicine skyrocket to pad the pocketbooks of CEOs as my constituents have taken food out of their shopping carts,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said in an op-ed this week. Patients are rationing or forgoing their medication because they can’t afford it. For Antavia Worsham, the outcome was deadly — she tragically died at age 22 because she couldn’t afford the high price of her insulin. Insulin pricing disproportionately affects our minority communities. Latinos make up under 20 percent of the U.S. population, but the community is 70 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic white adults, making them more likely to need insulin to live. It’s no wonder Hispanic voters have health care on their minds as they head to the polls. It is imperative that we continue to rein in Big Pharma’s greed and put human lives before corporate profits. — (Albuquerque Journal, 11 Alive, Tampa Bay Times, The Hill)
5. Big Pharma’s Latest Scapegoat, Same BS
Big Pharma is using the Inflation Reduction Act as its latest scapegoat to justify maximizing profits. This week, drug companies Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly are using the new drug price law as their latest reason to stop investing in new drugs that won’t reap companies maximum profits. Drug company Alnylam claimed it wouldn’t further explore expanding the number of diseases its drug vutrisiran treats because it would make the drug eligible for Medicare negotiation. But vultrisiran and drugs that very treat rare diseases are unlikely to ever be eligible for negotiation, as they are unlikely to become one of the costliest drugs for Medicare. Arguments from pharma companies like Eli Lilly that the Inflation Reduction Act makes investment in small molecule drugs less profitable are simply a case of Big Pharma fear-mongering yet again. The Inflation Reduction Act actually improves the environment for small molecule drugs compared to biologics. The truth is, Big Pharma has been deciding which drugs to produce and which ones not to produce based on the industry’s profits for years – its latest ploy to throw the Inflation Reduction Act under the bus has nothing to do with saving patients’ lives and everything to do with maximizing profits. Same old pharma. — (Endpoints, Endpoints, STAT)
?️BONUS: It’s nearly election day! And drug prices are still top of mind as Americans cast their ballots. Patient advocate Jackie Trapp, who lives with a rare blood cancer, told CBS this week that she’s planning on voting for Democrats, and that “she’s looking forward to seeing those [drug] costs drop in coming years as drug-pricing provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act kick in.”
Have a great weekend, everyone!
FLORIDA — Patient advocate Sheldon Armus, a Medicare beneficiary from Boynton Beach, shared his story about the high price of his cardiac medications today and introduced President Biden, thanking him for passing the Inflation Reduction Act that will lower drug prices and improve the health of millions of patients. The president delivered remarks in Hallandale Beach about lowering prescription drug costs through the Inflation Reduction Act and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
Sheldon, 74, takes Xarelto and Brilinta, blood thinners that prevent him from developing dangerous blood clots that could lead to a heart attack or stroke. Sheldon explained that Johnson & Johnson has raised the price of Xarelto every year, far outpacing the rate of inflation. It now costs $500 for a 30-day supply, whereas if it had been held to the rate of inflation since 2013, its price would be less than $300 for a month’s supply.
The provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will, for the first time, allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices, curb annual drug price increases to no more than the rate of inflation, cap out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries at $2,000 in 2025, limit monthly insulin copays to $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries, and make adult vaccines free for Medicare beneficiaries starting next year.
“Medicare is gonna have the power to negotiate lower drug prices,” said President Biden at today’s speech. “The total amount of prescription drug prices you have to pay in any one year if you’re a senior on Medicare…will not be more than $2,000 a year – that’s it.”
“Sheldon is a tremendous advocate and we are grateful he shared his story while introducing the president today,” said Merith Basey, Patients For Affordable Drug Now’s Executive Director. “The Inflation Reduction Act will lower costs for hundreds of thousands of Floridians like Sheldon which will make a significant difference in improving their lives. This is one of the many reasons the drug price provisions are supported by almost 80 percent of Americans, including seven out of 10 Republicans.”
Sheldon added: “Knowing that we have leaders like President Biden fighting to bring down our drug prices — not keep money in the pockets of the pharmaceutical companies — means the world to seniors like my wife and myself, who have been waiting on this relief for years.”
Watch Sheldon’s remarks and the president’s full speech here.
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Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, millions of patients won’t get Tricked by Big Pharma, only Treated to lower drug prices ?
Welcome To The Week In Review (a day early, as P4AD is closed today).
Popular Provisions
A new poll from NBC News found that lowering health care costs and prescription drug prices is the most popular position that midterm candidates have taken during the general election. 84 percent of voters said they’re most likely to support a candidate with this position. It’s no wonder drug price reforms are popular – the provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act will be life-changing for Americans. “The drug pricing reforms that Congress passed are historic,” Senator Luján wrote in an op-ed this week. “Now, the 23,060 New Mexicans on Medicare will have their insulin costs capped at $35 per month.” The annual cap on Part D out-of-pocket costs along with requiring Medicare to negotiate “could save billions annually at the national level.” With World Psoriasis Day tomorrow, a patient with psoriasis celebrated how the provisions that “drive down drug prices are going to make a world of a difference for people like me, but also for countless working families, seniors, people with disabilities and communities of color.” — (NBC News, Las Cruces Sun News, Medscape, Minnesota Reformer)
2. Patient Feature: Therese Humphrey Ball
This week’s Tradeoffs Podcast features patient advocate Therese Humphrey Ball in an episode about how the Inflation Reduction Act’s overhaul of the Medicare prescription drug program, Part D, will deliver relief to seniors like Therese who previously have been on the hook for thousands of dollars in drug costs. Therese shares her moving story of living with multiple sclerosis and how she had to ration and eventually go off one of her medications, Copaxone, which cost her $6,000 a month. Going without the medication caused Therese’s multiple sclerosis to progress until one morning, she was unable to walk. “You can’t imagine how mad I was,” Therese shared, “…to think that in the United States of America, people have to do this. It is not right.” Thankfully, Therese has since gained back mobility and has been a strong force of advocacy over the years. Her voice is one of many that helped pass the historic reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act. “I can’t control my disease or change that I have MS, but telling you my story and advocating for lower prices is something I can control.” — (Tradeoffs Podcast)
3. Patients Footing The Bills
Prostate cancer drug Lupron Depot is a testosterone-suppressing drug invented nearly 50 years ago. After coming to market in 1973, Lupron’s manufacturers – Abbott and Takeda – abused the U.S. patent system to maintain a monopoly on the drug, allowing the companies to keep raising its price. Lupron is now priced at $5,866, and sold by AbbVie, for a three-month shot in the United States, compared to $260 in the United Kingdom. Because the shot must be administered at a hospital or doctor’s office, U.S. hospitals and clinics are able to markup the drug further to enhance their revenues. The high price of the drug incentivizes these upcharges and motivates providers to prescribe the drug. “Doctors and hospitals can earn tens of thousands of dollars each visit by marking up its price and administration fees.” For 60-year-old prostate cancer patient Paul Hinds, his bill for two shots of Lupron injections totalled $73,812 thanks to the high list price, lab work, and physician charges. Our drug price system allows every part of the drug pipeline to profit off of medications, leaving patients to foot the bill. We must reduce prices, stop patent abuses, and lower markups to deliver relief to patients. — (KHN/NPR)
A new study found that in 2021, almost 1 in 5 U.S adults with diabetes skipped, delayed, or used less of their insulin due to the high price. That is 1.3 million people. As we know, the Inflation Reduction Act will lower insulin costs for nearly 3 million adults on Medicare, which will be life changing. But there is more work to be done so that all people with diabetes can afford their insulin. And the new study shows that Americans with private health insurance and those who are uninsured have the highest rates of insulin rationing. Dr. Adam Gaffney, the study’s lead author, shared with NBC that the problem is that “We have allowed pharmaceutical companies to set the agenda, and that is coming at the cost to our patients.” Big Pharma’s greed is responsible for putting the lives of Americans in completely avoidable danger — we won’t stop fighting to put patients’ health ahead of drug industry profits. — (Annals of Internal Medicine, NBC News)
2. Voters Care About Drug Prices
The high price of prescription drugs is on the minds of voters, says a new poll released by Gallup and West Health this week. Nearly nine out of 10 Americans report that a candidate’s plan to reduce the cost of prescription drugs is very or somewhat important in determining their vote. This is especially true with seniors, as well as Black and Hispanic voters. And with the midterms around the corner, Democrats are leaning in on prescription drug reforms on the campaign trail, touting the newly passed drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that will lower drug prices for patients. Reps. Wild, Pappas, and Horsford penned an op-ed in Newsweek explaining that “the provisions related to drug prices and health care are truly historic.” The members highlighted that the drug price provisions are incredibly popular, and that members of Congress trying to repeal the reforms are doing Big Pharma’s bidding. Rep. Katie Porter shared similar sentiments at a recent event: “Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices is good for patients, good for families, and good for taxpayers. It is good for us as a country — for Americans who have long been suffering from skyrocketing drug prices, the Inflation Reduction Act delivers solutions.” — (Gallup, The Hill, Newsweek, P4ADNow)
3. Pandemic Profiteering
This week, Pfizer shared that it plans to charge $110 to $130 for its COVID-19 shot — which is based on taxpayer-funded research — nearly quadrupling the price. The reason for this increase? To meet revenue goals, which come at the price of patients. But clearly Pfizer isn’t hurting for money – in the second quarter of 2022, the company had a 78 percent increase in overall profit compared to the same period in 2021 and is forecasting $32 billion in 2022 sales from its COVID vaccines. “This is daylight robbery,” Julia Kosgei, policy adviser to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, told Common Dreams. “This latest obscene price hike is truly a mask-off moment for one of the great profiteers of this pandemic.” — (Reuters, Endpoints News, Common Dreams)
BONUS WATCH: Check out the new documentary White Coat Rebels, which dives into Big Pharma’spower, the medical profession, and the activists who are fighting back against the status quo. In particular, the film features the powerful stories of two fierce medical students from Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), where our very own Merith Basey was previously executive director before joining P4AD!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Welcome To The Week In Review.
“This Legislation Is Unforgivable.”
Patients are drawing a line in the sand, pushing back hard on Republican Senators Lankford (OK), Lee (UT), Lummis (WY), and Rubio (FL)’s recent effort to force them to pay more for their prescriptions. Senator Lee introduced, and Senators Lankford, Lummis, and Rubio cosponsored, the so-called Protect Drug Innovation Act, which aims to reverse the life-changing drug price reforms recently passed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. In response, P4ADNow mobilized patients and launched digital ads in Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, and Florida to send a clear message to these senators: Don’t raise our drug prices. “I’m furious that Senator Lee spews Big Pharma lies while he tries to make sure drug companies can continue to price gouge me for my prescriptions,” said Meg Jackson-Drage, from Magna, Utah who lives with fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, both of which require costly medication. After seeing Rachel Maddow call out Senator Rubio, saying, “it is literally a bill to make prescription drugs more expensive for senior citizens,” patient advocate Sheldon Armus of Boynton Beach said, “Finally, Congress passed a law to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and Senator Rubio wants to reverse it?! Makes no sense.” Clayton McCook, from Edmond, Oklahoma whose daughter, Lily, lives with type 1 diabetes shared, “The Inflation Reduction Act is a huge step in the right direction to lower drug prices. Our senators should be working to expand these reforms to all Americans, not reverse them. This legislation is unforgivable.” — (P4ADNow, MSNBC)
2. Thank You, Mr. President
Yesterday, President Biden signed an executive order that directs the Department of Health and Human Services to explore new actions it can take to lower prescription drug costs for middle-class families. “Specifically, the president is calling on the CMS Innovation Center (CMMI) to craft plans to lower the price of medicines within 90 days, and for the Department of Health and Human Services to submit a formal report outlining those proposals,” The Washington Post reported. It’s very good that President Biden is taking this additional step and we look forward to seeing what CMMI will bring forward and how we can support future steps to lower drug prices and improve the health of everyone. — (The White House, The Washington Post)
3. Popular Provisions
A new Kaiser Family Foundation health survey that tracked motivating issues for voters leading up to the midterms found that reducing the cost of prescription drugs is resonating with voters, especially seniors. Results show voters are more likely to vote for candidates that support the drug price provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. Majorities of voters say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supports placing a limit on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for people on Medicare (66 percent), capping monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs for people with Medicare (65 percent), and authorizing the federal government to negotiate the price of some prescription drugs for people on Medicare (59 percent). Patients want the government to lower drug prices, and this year, Democrats delivered. — (KFF)
One more thing: We were thrilled to learn that Priti Krishtel is among the newest recipients of the MacArthur genius grant! ? Congratulations, Priti! Thank you for your work to expose Big Pharma’s patent abuses and to increase access to medicine for all patients. Check out Priti’s NPR interview here.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
P4ADNow Launches Push In Wyoming, Calling Out Senator Lummis For Standing With Big Pharma To Actually Raise Drug Prices
WYOMING — Patients are pushing back hard on Senator Cynthia Lummis’ recent effort to force them to pay more for their prescriptions. Senator Lummis is cosponsoring the so-called Protect Drug Innovation Act, which aims to reverse the life-changing drug price reforms recently passed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill would repeal reforms patients fought for years to achieve. It would block Medicare from negotiating lower prices, remove caps on annual price increases which are now limited to the rate of inflation, and raise out-of-pocket costs for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. In response, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is mobilizing patients and launching digital ads in Wyoming to send a clear message to Senator Lummis: Don’t raise our drug prices.
“Senator Lummis is putting Big Pharma ahead of patients, seeking to reverse provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that will lower costs for thousands of Wyoming patients and which are supported by almost 80 percent of Americans, including seven out of 10 Republicans,” said David Mitchell, cancer patient and founder and president of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Patients worked too hard to pass these reforms to lower drug prices; we will not stand still while pro-pharma senators like Senator Cynthia Lummis try to undo it – we will fight back.”
The senators gave the bill the intentionally misleading name of the “Protect Drug Innovation Act,” falling back on Big Pharma’s discredited chestnut that anything to lower prices will stymie innovation. In the wake of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, investment in biotech stocks rose and a major drug company CEO said his company will do fine under its provisions.
P4ADNow’s campaign includes digital static ads as well as grassroots advocacy, where patients tell Senator Lummis to stand with patients, not Big Pharma.
See ad examples below:
In addition to Wyoming, P4ADNow will also be running ads in Oklahoma, Utah, and Florida where Senators Lankford, Lee, and Rubio also sponsored the bill.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is an independent, bipartisan patient organization focused on policies to lower drug prices. P4ADNow does not accept funding from any organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.
P4ADNow Launches Push In Oklahoma, Calling Out Senator Lankford For Standing With Big Pharma To Actually Raise Drug Prices
“Our Senators Should Be Working To Expand These Reforms To All Americans, Not Reverse Them. This Legislation Is Unforgivable.”
OKLAHOMA — Patients are pushing back hard on Senator James Lankford’s recent effort to force them to pay more for their prescriptions. Senator Lankford is cosponsoring the so-called Protect Drug Innovation Act, which aims to reverse the life-changing drug price reforms recently passed into law in the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill would repeal reforms patients fought for years to achieve. It would block Medicare from negotiating lower prices, remove caps on annual price increases which are now limited to the rate of inflation, and raise out-of-pocket costs for millions of Medicare beneficiaries. In response, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is mobilizing patients and launching digital ads in Oklahoma to send a clear message to Senator Lankford: Don’t raise our drug prices.
“Senator Lankford is putting Big Pharma ahead of patients, seeking to reverse provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that will lower costs for tens of thousands of Oklahomans and which are supported by almost 80 percent of Americans, including seven out of 10 Republicans,” said David Mitchell, cancer patient and founder and president of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Patients worked too hard to pass these reforms to lower drug prices; we will not stand still while pro-pharma senators like James Lankford try to undo it – we will fight back.”
The senators gave the bill the intentionally misleading name of the “Protect Drug Innovation Act,” falling back on Big Pharma’s discredited chestnut that anything to lower prices will stymie innovation. In the wake of the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, investment in biotech stocks rose and a major drug company CEO said his company will do fine under its provisions.
“I wish I were surprised by Senator Lankford’s attempt to reverse the recent drug price reforms – but this is just another example of politicians standing with Big Pharma instead of with patients,” added Clayton McCook, from Edmond whose daughter, Lily, lives with type 1 diabetes. “The Inflation Reduction Act is a huge step in the right direction to lower drug prices. Our senators should be working to expand these reforms to all Americans, not reverse them. This legislation is unforgivable.”
P4ADNow’s campaign includes digital static ads as well as grassroots advocacy, where patients tell Senator Lankford to stand with patients, not Big Pharma.
See ad examples below:
In addition to Oklahoma, P4ADNow will also be running ads in Utah, Wyoming, and Florida where Senators Lee, Lummis, and Rubio also sponsored the bill.
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Patients For Affordable Drugs Now is an independent, bipartisan patient organization focused on policies to lower drug prices. P4ADNow does not accept funding from any organizations that profit from the development or distribution of prescription drugs.
