Over 100 New York Patients Send Letter Urging Senate Majority Leader Schumer To Keep Pushing To Pass Bipartisan Legislation To Lower Drug Prices Through Patent Reforms And Increased Competition
Patients Thank Senator Schumer For Leading Historic Reforms To Lower Drug Prices And Push For Bills To Curb Anti-Competitive Practices And Boost Generic Competition
NEW YORK — Over 100 patients from New York who depend on essential, high-priced medications sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer thanking him for his work to lower drug prices and urging him to continue his efforts to make medicines more affordable by including legislation that would curb patent abuse and increase competition in a January health care package.
The letter to Senator Schumer endorses a package of bipartisan bills, which, having received committee approval, address the anti-competitive tactics employed by drug companies to delay the entry of generic competition necessary to reduce drug prices. These legislative reforms are anticipated to substantially decrease prices and out-of-pocket expenses for millions of patients and result in significant savings for taxpayers.
“We stand in support of the bipartisan bills aimed at curbing these anti-competitive practices,” the letter reads. “We know that you and Senators on both sides of the aisle have been working to advance these measures. It’s critical that we take action now to improve competition and address the loopholes exploited by Big Pharma. Doing so will lead to lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of people and substantial savings for taxpayers.’
The bills included are:
S. 142 to curb pay-for-delay deals in which brand name drug makers pay would-be generic and biosimilar competitors to keep them from bringing their products to market.
S. 150 to crack down on patent thickets and product-hopping, which are used to build a patent wall around existing brand name drugs and block lower-priced competition.
S. 148 and S. 1067 to stop drug company abuse of citizen petitions before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which drug companies use to delay generic and biosimilar market entry.
S. 775 to improve the ability of the FDA to disclose information generic companies need for speedy approval.
S. 79 to establish a task force between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and FDA in order to improve each agency’s patent-related activities.
“As your constituents in New York, we are committed to supporting your efforts to make progress on these critical bills,” the letter continues. “We laud your dedication to this cause and we are eager to see you build on the work you’ve already achieved to ensure these bipartisan bills are enacted to further lower prescription drug prices for patients nationwide.”
Read the full letter and list of signers here and below.
——–
Senator Chuck Schumer Majority Leader 322 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Schumer,
As patients from New York who rely on expensive medications to treat our illnesses or conditions we are particularly impacted by the high price of prescription drugs. We are writing to express our gratitude for your tireless efforts in championing vital prescription drug reforms to make medications more accessible and affordable for all.
The Inflation Reduction Act was instrumental in securing historic reforms such as drug price negotiation under Medicare, an out-of-pocket cap in Medicare Part D, and inflation-based rebates for drugs in Medicare Part B and D. These initiatives will significantly alleviate the burden of high prescription drug costs for many of us in our community and millions across the country. The actions you’ve taken are positively impacting the lives of seniors, people with disabilities, and many others relying on Medicare for essential medications.
Despite all that progress, we recognize that you are well aware that more work is needed to ensure continued progress to combat exorbitant prescription drug prices. As you know, Big Pharma uses anti-competitive practices, like patent thickets, product hopping, and pay-for-delay arrangements, to hinder the entry of generic and biosimilar medications into the market, obstructing market competition that would reduce drug prices for patients across the country.
We stand in support of the bipartisan bills aimed at curbing these anti-competitive practices. We know that you and Senators on both sides of the aisle have been working to advance these measures. It’s critical that we take action now to improve competition and address the loopholes exploited by Big Pharma. Doing so will lead to lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of people and substantial savings for taxpayers.
As your constituents in New York, we are committed to supporting your efforts to make progress on these critical bills. We laud your dedication to this cause and we are eager to see you build on the work you’ve already achieved to ensure these bipartisan bills are enacted to further lower prescription drug prices for patients nationwide.
Thank you for your unwavering commitment to lower drug prices for all Americans. We stand with you and eagerly anticipate this package of crucial bills being brought to the floor so we can enhance competition for prescription drugs and reduce costs for patients.
Sincerely,
[Patient Signatures]
###
Vote Sets Stage For Negotiation On Bipartisan Bills Promoting Competition Making Their Way Through The Senate
The following statement was issued by Merith Basey, executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, after the House of Representatives passed the “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act”:
“The House’s decisive bipartisan action tonight in passing the “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act” including measures to increase transparency and further tackle high drug prices by improving the generic drug approval process, is highly encouraging and moves the Congress in the right direction. This development boosts the momentum for the Senate leadership to move forward with a comprehensive health care package, encompassing bills aimed at lowering drug prices by addressing patent abuses and other anti-competitive tactics employed by drug companies to delay generic and biosimilar competition. This action helps to pave the way for a bipartisan end of year package that can lower prescription drug prices for everyone.”
###
Wishing everyone a restful and restorative Thanksgiving break! Here’s a roundup featuring P4AD patient advocates at the virtual CMS Listening Sessions for the Medicare Negotiation Program
David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs whose drugs carry a combined list price of more than $900,000 per year, kicked off the first day of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) patient focused listening sessions with remarks on taking blockbuster blood thinner Eliquis and the relief to come from its negotiated drug price. “Negotiation on Eliquis is going to help millions of patients like me have both better health and improved financial well-being,” David explained. The following day, longtime P4AD patient advocate Judy Aiken shared her experience from her home in Maine at the Enbrel listening session: “Enbrel’s high cost has been a real burden, a constant anxiety. A lower price for this drug will be life changing for me and thousands of other patients.”
P4AD patient advocate Bob Parant, who lives with type 1 diabetes and introduced the President in September last year following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, spoke at the listening sessions about his high out-of-pockets costs for Entresto — a heart failure medication that keeps him alive following a recent triple bypass surgery. “I am always on high alert with all of my meds. Many do not realize what additional stress this presents besides living with the disease itself,” remarked Bob at the patient listening session for Entresto. Thankfully, in 2026, he won’t have to worry so much about managing the high costs of his life-saving medication due to Medicare negotiation. Lynn Scarfuto, a P4AD advocate who takes oral chemotherapy drug Imbruvica for her leukemia, celebrated the announcement that her anticancer medication will be eligible for Medicare negotiation in 2026. She shared at the Imbruvica listening session that the monthly list price of her medication is hugely cost prohibitive at $17,000 a month and hopes that “future negotiations will make these meds more affordable” for patients like her on Medicare.
P4AD patient advocate Steven Hadfield, who lives with a rare blood cancer and type 2 diabetes, and who introduced the President when the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation were announced, shared the relief he felt when his diabetes medication, Januvia, was announced as one of the first drugs that Medicare will negotiate a lower price for in 2026. “I know Medicare negotiation is a blessing not a detriment for patients like me, as a decrease in price would allow working class Americans to feel some well needed financial relief and enjoy access to more affordable medications,” said Steven during the Januvia listening session. At the Stelara listening session, P4AD patient advocate Doug Lusty commented on the financial burden caused by the high cost of Stelara in addition to his other expensive medications that he depends on to treat his Crohn’s disease and diabetes. “I am already on a fixed-income and have been hit financially hard with medical expenses between my wife and I, which means lower drug prices will ultimately let us enjoy some savings and give us more breathing room that we desperately need.”
Despite the presence of pharma talking points saturating the sessions, we want to express our deepest thanks to all P4AD patient advocates, whose stories illuminate the urgency and impact of Medicare negotiations. It’s undeniable that the success of the historic drug price reforms within the Inflation Reduction Act is due to the power and dedication of these patient advocates speaking out in direct opposition to pharma interests.
Have a great holiday!
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Deflating Big Pharma Lies
We know that Big Pharma will go to extreme lengths to preserve its monopoly pricing power and egregious profits. It turns out that their fear mongering claims about the Inflation Reduction Act are falling flat. Compared to last year, drug company research & development (R&D) spending is increasing and mergers and acquisition (M&A) is on the uptick, according to a study by ATI Advisory. Big Pharma is flush with cash! Despite Big Pharma’s constant spewing of misinformation, patients are able to steer through this shroud of propaganda and are already feeling relief from the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act. “Innovation is meaningless if no one can afford it,” wrote Jim from Minnesota in a letter-to-the editor. “Medicare negotiation will finally allow the program to look at whether drug prices are justified and move toward a system that rewards meaningful advances, leading to more innovation.” The historic drug price law is prioritizing patients’ health and financial well-being, while also continuing to enable innovation. — (ATI Advisory, Duluth News Tribune)
2. Patients Need Competition To Lower Prices
There was more evidence this week that drug companies game our patent and regulatory systems to maintain market exclusivity and charge patients high prices. According to analysis published in JAMA, between 2004 and 2021, a U.S. appeals court found 36 cases in which companies failed to disclose accurate information to the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). More than 60 percent of those invalidated patents were attributed to medical products covered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This draws attention to the question of the genuine “innovation” being brought by these patents filed by drug companies. One of the study’s authors, Sean Tu, argued that the USPTO should improve communication with the FDA to prevent patent abuse. “If somebody asked me how many people are speeding on the highway? I would say I‘ve no idea, but I can tell you how many are caught speeding. And if 50% are driving red Corvettes, then maybe we should look at red Corvettes. In this instance, the companies with FDA-approved products are red Corvettes,” Tu told STAT. “Perversely, patents can also create incentives for innovations that create very little value,” wrote James and Robert Rebitzer in a STAT opinion. They continue to explain that Big Pharma uses secondary patents and other tactics that “offer little benefit to patients and society” and exist purely to extend monopoly periods. That’s why we’re pushing for bipartisan bills that will fix our rigged patent system and close regulatory loopholes to encourage competition and lower drug prices. — (JAMA, STAT, STAT)
3. Insulin Affordability Crisis
On Monday, the Congressional Black Caucus convened to discuss how diabetes disproportionately affects Black Americans and called for more action to help provide relief for insulin costs. Rep. Shontel Brown cited a study last year that found 23 percent of Black people were rationing their prescribed insulin due to high costs. This devastating reality for many patients who depend on insulin is enabled by rampant patent abuses from the drug corporation cartel that controls the world’s insulin market. Drug companies making insulin products regularly file for multiple patents after FDA approval and extend market exclusivity, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine. While the $35 insulin copay cap in the Inflation Reduction Act for patients on Medicare represents a significant step in the right direction, many people in the U.S. are still facing high costs and can be forced to ration or go completely without their insulin which can be deadly. We will keep fighting to ensure that everyone can access insulin at prices they can afford. — (Cleveland.com, PLOS Medicine)
BONUS: P4AD’s David Mitchell was one of several co-authors on this new paper in Nature that examines the ways that universities and academic medical centers, which receive large amounts of funding from taxpayers, can better ensure medicines including novel gene therapies are priced to maximize public health and lessen the burden that high drug prices impose on patients and society.
Have a great weekend!
Happy Veterans Day to our nation’s heroes and their families.
In the spirit of the Medicare negotiation listening sessions, a reminder that the Department of Veteran Affairs has been negotiating drug prices since 1993.
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. CMS Listening Sessions Continue
This was the second week of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) virtual listening sessions where patients taking the first 10 drugs eligible for Medicare negotiations shared their experiences with high drug prices and what this relief will mean to them. And once again, we witnessed the reiteration of pharmaceutical industry talking points that do not align with the best interests of patients. Standing up to Pharma, P4AD patient advocate Lynn Scarfuto applauded the inclusion of her costly cancer treatment, Imbruvica — which carries a monthly list price of $17,000 — on the list of negotiated drugs. P4AD patient advocate Steven Hadfield, 71, (who introduced the President when the first 10 drugs selected for negotiation was announced) shared the relief he felt when his diabetes medication, Januvia, was announced as one of the first drugs that Medicare will negotiate a lower price for. “Lower drug prices will firmly allow me to rest more often and hopefully allow me to transition from working full time to working part time,” said Steven during the Januvia listening session. Bob Parant, who shared his story with CMS last week, was featured on the White House’s Facebook page, highlighting the power of patient advocacy. We are eager to see the negotiation process continue, and long-awaited relief delivered to patients, like Lynn, Bob, and Steven, who have been forced to pay unreasonably high drug prices. Millions of patients on Medicare will see significant savings when lower negotiated drug prices take effect in 2026. (P4ADNOW, Protect Our Care)
2. Momentum To Curb Patent Abuses
It’s no secret that big drug companies game the patent system to preserve their monopoly pricing power, delay generic competition from coming to market, and push medications out of reach for far too many patients. This week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) doubled down on its promise to address patent abuses and challenged more than 100 patents held by the makers of asthma inhalers, epinephrine autoinjectors, and other essential medications. “We’re taking this action because I think, as we all know, there is a crisis in our country when it comes to health care costs,” FTC Chair Lina Khan told NPR. “And all too often, people are not able to afford the medicines they need, the life-saving drugs that they need.” In an interview with Current Affairs, Nick Dearden, global director of Global Justice Now and author of Pharmanomics, detailed how drug companies game the patent system to extend market exclusivity, such as “evergreening” where drug companies make small, insignificant changes to a drug just to earn more patents. As a result, lower-cost generics are prevented from hitting the market and delivering relief to patients who depend on these life-saving medications. We must continue to crack down on Big Pharma’s deceitful maneuvers and pass laws to fix our patent system and close regulatory loopholes. — (NPR, Current Affairs)
BONUS: For our bilingual readers – shout out to our very own Jesse Aguirre for his op ed published in El Planeta yesterday in Spanish on how Patient stories have the potential to overturn the status quo of Big Pharma. Bravo!
Have a great weekend!
On November 1st, Ady Barkan, co-founder of Be A Hero, widely-known advocate in the fight for health justice, and who got his start in health advocacy at UAEM, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at 39 years old. When he was diagnosed in 2016, Ady chose to leverage his own powerful patient story to persuade policymakers to prioritize people over profit. He will be sorely missed but his impact and legacy to help transform the US healthcare system will continue.
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. P4ADNow Urges Senate Leadership To Pass Competition Bills
On Tuesday, over 60 organizations sent a letter, co-led by P4ADNow and AARP, to the Senate toadvance a package of bipartisan bills to lower drug prices through reforms to our patent and regulatory systems and increased competition. The organizations — representing patients, consumers, seniors, churches, students, and disease advocacy groups — called on senators to urgently pass these reforms to lower prescription drug prices for millions of patients. The letter addressed to Senate leadership underscored that these reforms have significant bipartisan backing from a majority of voters and that this package of bills will save taxpayers $2.5-3 billion over the next 10 years. “Senators on both sides of the aisle have put in far too much work on these bills over several years to let this opportunity be lost,” said P4ADNow’s Merith Basey. “The moment is at hand to enact reforms that voters overwhelmingly support and which will help patients of all ages regardless of whether they get their health care in the private or public sector.” We urge the 118th Senate to ensure that patients and consumers are seeing relief from high drug prices and advance bipartisan legislation to curb abuses to our patent and regulatory systems and encourage generic and biosimilar competition coming to market. Congress, over to you! — (P4ADNow, MedPage City, Inside Health Policy, Campaign For Sustainable Rx Prices)
2. P4AD Patient Advocates At CMS Listening Sessions
As part of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began its series of virtual patient-focused listening sessions this week. Dedicated P4AD patient advocates Judy Aiken and Bob Parant, shared their experiences with high drug prices and what Medicare negotiation would mean for them. “Enbrel’s high cost has been a burden, in cost and anxiety. A lower price for this drug will be life changing for me and thousands of other patients,” remarked Judy at the Enbrel listening session. While the sessions are intended to be an opportunity for patients, caregivers, and patient advocacy groups to share input related to the first 10 drugs eligible for Medicare negotiations, common Big Pharma talking points were clearly on display via numerous representatives of so-called advocacy groups. P4AD’s David Mitchell, who participated in the initial session for Eliquis, a blood thinner medication he relies on as a patient living with multiple myeloma, toldPolitico that “[Big] Pharma tried to hijack the first meeting with its paid front groups.” Next week, the listening sessions continue through November 15th. Keep an eye out for passionate P4AD patient advocates expected to share their lived experiences with unjustified high drug prices and what it means to have Medicare negotiate lower drug prices for their essential medicines. — (The White House, Protect Our Care, Politico)
3. Medicare Negotiations Will Bring Relief To Patients
Patients on Medicare are eager for successful implementation of the historic program and will begin to feel relief when lower negotiated drug prices take effect in 2026. In an interview with MedPageToday, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure explainedhow patients and taxpayers will see relief from Medicare negotiation: “So it helps people in Medicare, but it also helps all of us as taxpayers who are supporting the Medicare system to make sure we’re getting the best deal.” Public Citizen released a report that called out Amgen for the drug company’s extensive patent abuses for its blockbuster drug Enbrel, one of the first selected drugs to be negotiated. Public Citizen argued that Medicare could have saved “$1,053,023,122 in less than four years” if competition had been allowed to come to market in 2019. Thankfully, patients on Medicare will see a lower negotiated price for this essential medication. — (MedPage Today, Public Citizen)
4. On The Horizon:Sickle Cell Disease Gene Therapy
We are on the cusp of revolutionary cell and gene therapies coming to market that offer potentially curative benefits to patients. However, the looming question of how patients, taxpayers, and our health care system will pay for these treatments still remains to be answered. On Tuesday, the FDA advisory committee reviewed Exa-cel — a treatment using gene-editing tool CRISPR — which could become the first gene therapy for sickle cell disease if approved next month. Sickle cell disease affects 100,000 people in the U.S., and disproportionately impacts people who are Black or Brown. This cutting-edge, one-time treatment could save patients living with sickle cell disease from a lifetime of severe illness — but it’s expected multi-million dollar price tag will put this treatment out of reach for those who need it the most. “I’m worried that this will be a very highly lauded technology that people will not be able to use,” said Melissa Clearly, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health who studies sickle cell. In an op-ed for STAT News, Dr. Vivian G. Cheung wrote that “without targeted investment in medical infrastructure, these innovations will remain inaccessible to many.” Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. — (NBC, WPR, STAT)
Have a great weekend!
Organizations Representing Patients, Consumers, Seniors, Students, Churches, And Disease Advocacy Groups Push For Package Of Bills That Strengthens Market Forces To Lower Prices For All Americans
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now and AARP, along with 60 other organizations sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them to pass bipartisan legislation to reform our patent and regulatory systems to curb unwarranted monopolies and promote competition to lower prescription drug prices for all Americans.
“There is a real opportunity in the Senate to advance a package of bipartisan bills that will increase competition and market forces to lower drug prices,” said Merith Basey, executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Senators on both sides of the aisle have put in far too much work on these bills over several years to let this opportunity be lost. The moment is at hand to enact reforms that voters overwhelmingly support and which will help patients of all ages regardless of whether they get their health care in the private or public sector.”
The letter to Senators Schumer and McConnell, and copied to every member of the Senate, supports a package of six bills — all bipartisan and all relying on competition and market forces to lower drug prices that complement reforms enacted last year under the Inflation Reduction Act.
“For too long, big drug companies have gamed the system to prevent less expensive generic and biosimilar drugs from entering the market. America’s seniors deserve better,” said Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer. “Now is the time for Congress to pass bipartisan common-sense legislation that will give consumers real choices and lower their drug prices.”
“Critically, almost four out of five voters support such reforms including 75 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of Independents, and 86 percent of Democrats,” the letter reads. “The bills will save taxpayers $2-3 billion over 10 years and lead to lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans.”
Patients like Sue Lee, 81, of Crestwood, Kentucky will be helped by these bills. Sue lives with chronic plaque psoriasis and was forced to endure painful sores because she couldn’t afford the high monthly cost of Humira — which was protected by 165 patents — and had to stop taking the drug.
Read the full letter and list of signers here and below.
Bipartisan bills to strengthen competition and market forces to lower prescription drug prices have cleared every key Senate committee on strong bipartisan votes, and the undersigned groups that represent patients and advocates urge that they be enacted into law.
Critically, almost four out of five voters support such reforms including 75 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of Independents, and 86 percent of Democrats. The bills will save taxpayers $2-3 billion over 10 years and lead to lower out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. We ask you to advance the following bills now:
S. 142 to curb pay-for-delay deals in which brand name drug makers pay would-be generic and biosimilar competitors to keep them from bringing their products to market. S. 150 to crack down on patent thickets and product-hopping, which are used to build a patent wall around existing brand name drugs and block lower-priced competition. S. 148 and S. 1067 to stop drug company abuse of citizen petitions before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which drug companies use to delay generic and biosimilar market entry. S. 775 to improve the ability of the FDA to disclose information generic companies need for speedy approval. S. 79 to establish a task force between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and FDA in order to improve each agency’s patent-related activities.
The bipartisan bills now before the Senate would curb anti-competitive practices and ensure the will of Congress for generic and biosimilar competition and market forces to lower prices as intended to lower prices under the Hatch-Waxman framework. Recent academic studies have repeatedly shown the need for these reforms:
There has been a 200 percent increase in secondary patent filings by drug companies since 2000.
Makers of four blockbuster drugs used patent manipulation to earn 56 percent of their overall revenue on those drugs in the years after the end of the initial patent.
The bills will help people like Sue Lee, 81, of Crestwood, Kentucky who is living with plaque psoriasis and who was forced to endure painful sores because she couldn’t afford the $8,000 a month cost of Humira – which was protected by 165 patents – and had to forgo the drug.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates these bills will collectively save taxpayers between $2-3 billion dollars. They will result in lower out-of-pocket costs for patients and millions of people regardless of insurance status.
With only 26 work days left in this calendar year, we urge the Senate to come together now and address these critical issues to improve the health and financial well-being of people all across the country. Thank you.
Cc: Members of the United States Senate
Signed:
AARP ACA Consumer Advocacy Alliance for Retired Americans American Family Voices Beta Cell Action Beta Cell Foundation Blue Shield of California Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing Center for Health and Democracy Center for Medicare Advocacy Citizen Action/Illinois Consumer Action Dana Investment Advisors Doctors for America Families USA Foundation for Integrative AIDS Research Generation Patient Health Care Voices Health GAP Housing Works, Inc Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility Just Care USA Labor Campaign for Single Payer Long Island Center for Independent Living, Inc Lower Drug Prices Now Medicare Rights Center Metro New York Health Care for All MomsRising National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare National Multiple Sclerosis Society New York State Council of Churches New York StateWide Senior Action Council, Inc Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment Patients For Affordable Drugs Now Pennsylvania Health Access Network Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro Chapter Prescription Justice Protect Our Care Public Citizen Public Interest Patent Law Institute Rise Up WV Salud y Fármacos Seventh Generation Interfaith Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia Social Security Works Socially Responsible Investment Coalition SPACEs In Action T1International, USA TAG-Texans Against Gerrymandering Tennessee Health Care Campaign, Inc Tulipshare Two Faces of MS U.S. PIRG Unity Fellowship of Christ Church – NYC Universities Allied for Essential Medicines VOCAL-NY West Virginia Citizen Action Group West Virginians for Affordable Health Care
###
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. A New Chapter For Patients On Medicare
Implementation of the drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act continues as the Biden administration, health care advocacy groups, and elected officials share how the law is delivering long-sought relief to patients. At a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) roundtable, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and health care advocacy groups discussed how they can better educate consumers on the new reforms for patients on Medicare. Becerra emphasized the critical role these groups play in educating patients about the provisions that have already taken effect — capping insulin copays at $35 a month, and, for the first time, making all vaccines free. Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis shared remarks at Protect Our Care’s tour stop about how the reforms make essential medications more affordable: “This is an issue that affects real Pennsylvanians. It’s really important because the insulin and prescriptions are just outrageous right now. So, they need to have a break. I mean, myself alone, when I go for one medication, it’s $400. They cannot afford $400.” Finally, patients are seeing lower drug prices from the historic new law — and we’re eagerly awaiting the relief to continue as the other provisions are implemented in the future. — (HHS, WGAL)
2. Medicare Negotiations Are Crucial For Patients
The Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program will allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on expensive, widely-used medications and undoubtedly bring savings to millions of patients. “It means that, for the first time, there will be an ability to have a little bit of counterweight to the pharmaceutical industry,” Andrea Ducas, Vice President of health policy at the Center For American Progress, told Fortune. When lower negotiated drug prices arrive in 2026 they will be monumental for patients on Medicare including those taking cancer drugs, blood thinners, autoimmune disease treatments, and some diabetes drugs. Last year, Bristol Myers Squibb blood thinner Eliquis, one of the drugs selected for the first round of Medicare negotiations, made “$11.8 billion in revenue…about 25% of the company’s $46 billion in total revenue in 2022.” C. Joseph Ross Daval and Aaron S. Kesselheim, drug price experts at the Program on Regulation, Therapeutics and Law (PORTAL) at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post that debunks the claims made in recent lawsuits by pharmaceutical corporations to stop Medicare negotiations. The drug industry is trying to “achieve what it could not through the legislative process — maintaining unreasonably high brand-name drug prices at the expense of the American public.” wrote Daval and Kesselheim. Medicare negotiation will deliver relief to patients who have been forced to pay high drug prices and we won’t back down in our fight to ensure the successful implementation of this historic reform. — (Fortune, Accountable.US, The Washington Post)
3. Big Pharma Puts Profits Over Patients
While Big Pharma loves to shed crocodile tears about drug price reforms hurting their revenue stream, it turns out that actually — they are doing more than fine. In fact, they are exceeding expectations on profit margins and doubling down on lobbying efforts. This week, Novartis raised its full-year earnings forecast for the third time. Keytruda, Merck’s blockbuster drug, has seen “significant revenue growth” since last quarter, with sales growing 17 percent to $6.3 billion. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent over $20 million this year on lobbying, making the trade group one of the top spenders in the industry. It’s clear that Big Pharma executives are busy lining their pockets with piles of cash. All the while, patients are struggling to afford their medications. Nearly 40 percent of working-age adults reported skipping or delaying necessary health care or a prescription drug in the past year due to cost, according to a recent survey by the Commonwealth Fund. It’s time to prioritize the health and financial well-being of patients over profit margins. Lower drug prices for all patients now. — (Reuters, SeekingAlpha, Merck, CQ Roll Call, Commonwealth Fund)
BONUS PHOTO: Check out our long time P4AD patient advocates Sue, Lisa, Judy, and a shout-out to Pamela who met with their respective senators on Capitol Hill to share their experiences with high drug prices and what competition would represent to them! Way to go ladies!
