My name is Robert Keller. I’m a 66-year old resident of Parsippany, NJ.
I have dealt with Type 1 diabetes for more than 40 years and I’ve had a kidney transplant. I have relied on long-term disability due to my diabetic symptoms. This allowed me to not only afford my medication, but also to stay at home with my two sons and take care of them. It’s been challenging, but I prefer to see the bright side of things. I got to stay at home with my two sons and be the best dad I could be. I taught them to fish, I was involved as a school parent, and even the only stay-at-home dad at the school’s Mother’s Tea.
But my disability income ended last year, and now many of my healthcare costs depend on my wife. She is 65 and still working, with no retirement in sight because of the high costs of my medication. She can’t stop working because if we were to use Medicare, my medication would cost my family up to $1,800 per month. That’s completely unaffordable.
I wish that my wife could retire and we could move to Medicare, but because of the high cost of medication, that simply isn’t an option. I believe that Medicare should be able to negotiate lower drug prices for their beneficiaries. If they were to negotiate down the cost of my medication, my wife and I would enjoy a higher quality of life.
I share my story because I want others to value good health, to thank God for it, but also, to try to take a walk in other people’s shoes. Think about when it might be you or a loved one in that hospital bed –– and how you would like to be treated. I can assure you you’d want to be able to afford your medicines.
My name is Nilton Leon, and I am a hardworking father from Santa Ana, California. I also have type 2 diabetes, an illness I was diagnosed with in 2010. It has caused me great hardship in my life and has greatly affected my finances as well.
My doctor and I tried out various insulins and treatments, and we ended up landing on a routine that worked for me. I was prescribed Lantus, Lisinopril, Atorvastatin, Victoza, and Metformin for my diabetes and high blood pressure. I found that this regimen really transformed my health.
Everything was going well until I suddenly become unemployed. I lost my health insurance at that point, along with my prescription coverage. When I went to fill my medication at my pharmacy, I was shocked to find that the cost had become outrageously high. Suddenly, my Victoza and Metformin were $100 each. There is no way I can afford that.
Because of the high cost, I was forced to stop taking my medicine. I was living off of unemployment, and that barely covered my rent. I just couldn’t pay for my Victoza and Metformin anymore.
My health deteriorated. I got sick. My kidneys started going bad because of my high sugar levels. I lost a ton of weight and began to lose my hair. My energy was so low that I could no longer keep up with my loved ones.
I recently was able to get back on health insurance. I am now paying only $15 per medicine, but the costs still add up and it still takes a good chunk of my budget.
I am glad I no longer have to skip my medications, but I fear for the day that I am unable to pay for them once again. I know I am not the only one who faces these high drug prices. Patients like me shouldn’t have to fear for their health just because they can’t afford their medications. These medications are simply too expensive.
We finally know what a black hole looks like. Next black hole to face the cameras: justification for drug company price hikes.
1. Patients win
2. Counts for nothing
3. Do you like apples?
4. What a week in Washington
5. Walmart-ism
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day shuffle, but at the end of this week, one fact is undeniable: Big Pharma is on the run. Over the last week, Washington took meaningful steps on legislation that would curb drug company price gouging, end abuse of citizen petitions, stop drug companies from abusing the patent system, demand more transparency from pharmacy benefit managers, and protect people who are insulin dependent.
“At the end of this week, it’s undeniable that the momentum lies with patients working to fix our broken system,” said Ben Wakana, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Drug corporations reach into the pockets of hardworking Americans through dirty tactics like evergreening, pay-for-delay deals and unfair price gouging — and it’s time it ends. The fact that both parties are coalescing around this issue should terrify the greedy executives running drug corporations.”
BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION CONSIDERED THIS WEEK WOULD:
END CITIZEN PETITION ABUSE: Brand-name drug makers were behind 90 percent of all citizen petitions filed between 2011 and 2015 –– all aimed at blocking cheaper generic drugs. The FDA denied more than nine of every 10 petitions. The Ensuring Timely Access to Generics Act, introduced yesterday, would give the FDA the ability to reject citizen petitions if it determines the purpose of the petition is to delay generic drug entry.
Lead Sponsors: Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Michael Bennet (D-CO)
STOP DRUG COMPANY EVERGREENING: Drug corporations make tiny changes to their products in order to extend patent protections and stall cheaper generic options from hitting the market. Introduced yesterday, the REMEDY Act would address evergreening by rooting out non-innovative patents filed by brand drug corporations.
Lead Sponsors: Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Dick Durbin (D-IL)
CLOSE AN INSULIN LOOPHOLE: The FDA is in the process of recategorizing insulin as a biologic. The Protecting Access to Biosimilars Act, introduced Thursday, would ensure recategorized insulins do not receive an extra 12 years of market protections. That would mean less-expensive insulins could come to market sooner, giving patients relief.
Lead Sponsors: Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Tina Smith (D-MN)
CURB DRUG COMPANY PRICE GOUGING: Currently, drug corporations can raise prices without notice or justification. Language included in the Prescription Drug STAR Act would require drug manufacturers provide written justification for price increases at least 10 percent or $10,000 over 1 year, 25 percent or $25,000 over 3 years, or a starting drug price of more than $26,000. The drug company’s justification would be made public on the HHS website and failure to report justification would result in a $10,000 per day fine. The bill passed out of the House Ways & Means Committee unanimously on Tuesday.
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Richard Neal (D, MA-01) and Kevin Brady (R, TX-08)
INCREASE PBM TRANSPARENCY: Pharmacy Benefit Managers –– the drug middlemen who are supposed to operate on behalf of patients –– are a black box. PBMs negotiate drug discounts, but the public doesn’t know how much, if any, of the rebate reaches patients and consumers. Language passed unanimously by the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday as part of the Prescription Drug STAR Act would make information on PBM rebates public on HHS’ website. The information would include, by drug class, the aggregate amount of rebates, discounts, or price concessions that are passed through to the plan sponsor.
Lead Sponsors: Rep. Richard Neal (D, MA-01) and Kevin Brady (R, TX-08)
BONUS (from last week, but still):
PROTECT AMERICANS FROM PAYING MORE THAN OTHER COUNTRIES: Americans pay two times more for prescription drugs than citizens in other developed countries. The Transparent Drug Pricing Act, referred to the Senate HELP Committee April 1, would ensure the list price for prescription drugs does not exceed the lowest retail list price for the drug among Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, or Germany.
Lead Sponsors: Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Josh Hawley (R-MO)
RESTRICT SHADY PAY-FOR-DELAY DEALS: Brand drug companies pay off generic companies that plan to bring a competitor to market. In exchange for this payment, the generic manufacturer delays its product’s entry into the market. HR 1499, the Protecting Consumer Access to Generic Drugs Act, which passed unanimously out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last week, would limit deals in which brand and generic drug manufacturers use anti-competitive pay-off agreements to delay cheaper generic and biosimilar drugs from reaching patients.
Lead Sponsor: Rep. Bobby Rush (D, IL-1)
END REMS ABUSES: Brand drug companies use a safety program called Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) as a pretext for not selling drug samples to generic companies, which need the brand product in order to develop an equivalent and lower-priced competitor. The CREATES Act which passed unanimously out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last week would address delay tactics that are used by brand drug manufacturers to block lower-priced generic drugs. The U.S. could save $3.9 billion by stopping this abuse, which the FDA has called “unfair and exploitative.”
Lead Sponsors: Representatives David Cicilline (D, RI-1), James Sensenbrenner (R, WI-5), Jerry Nadler, (D, NY-10), Doug Collins (R, GA-9), Peter Welch (D, VT-At Large), David McKinley (R, WV-1)
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