Latest News | Mar 18, 2023

The Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing

 Patients’ lucky charm this year? The drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act. Less gold in Big Pharma’s coffers and more in the pockets of the people. ?? 

Welcome To The Week In Review.

  1. Savings On The Way Thanks To The Inflation Reduction Act

 2. ? Two More Insulin Manufacturers Bend To The Pressure of Advocates ?

3. Patients Can’t Afford Prescriptions — And PBMs Aren’t Helping

Over one third of Americans say that cost has prevented them from filling a prescription they need, according to a survey published this week. Results showed a sharp discrepancy between men and women, with 43 percent of women saying they have skipped filling their prescriptions due to cost compared to 30 percent of men. One of the reasons patients face such high costs? Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). PBMs are supposed to negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of patients, but right now it appears that the middlemen pocket their undisclosed rebates from drug manufacturers as profit and leave patients suffering. “PBMs are largely unregulated – and no one really knows what kind of savings are being negotiated on patients’ behalf,” wrote Beverly Goodell, executive director of the Lupus Foundation of New England. We are glad Congressis taking on the issue, and we will keep fighting for PBM reform — along with other drug price reforms — until cost is no longer a barrier to accessing medications patients need. — (The HillPortland TribuneCommonwealth MagazineCitrus County Chronicle)

Have a great weekend, everyone!

“I’m On Medicare, So The Inflation Reduction Act Is Critical To Me”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ginny Boynton, a retired lawyer and advocate with Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, met with President Biden last week to share how the Inflation Reduction Act will lower her drug costs. The White House released a new video yesterday that highlights Ginny and President Biden’s conversation just ahead of the president’s speech where he rolled out his 2024 budget that seeks to build upon the new drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act.

“I’m on Medicare, so the Inflation Reduction Act is critical to me,” Ginny, a mother of two who lives with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, told the president in Philadelphia last week. “I have a drug that costs $600,000 a year and another that’s $700 a month – and I can’t turn over in bed without it.” 

Ginny’s out-of-pocket costs will total close to $36,000 this year. But thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, starting in 2025, Ginny and millions of people on Medicare will have their out-of-pocket costs capped at $2,000. The new law also allows Medicare to negotiate the price of some of the most expensive drugs, caps Medicare insulin copays at $35 a month, and curbs drug company price gouging which will lower prices and stop Big Pharma’s monopoly pricing power.

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The White House video featuring Ginny is available on TwitterFacebook, and Instagram.

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 Thank you to the mother of the disability rights movement, Judy Heumann, for a lifetime of relentless activism. May we all “make a fuss” in her memory. 

Welcome To The Week In Review.

  1. Biden’s Budget: A Vision To Expand Drug Price Reforms

 2. Preserving Value Analysis For Patients

3. Patients Still Need Reforms

Bonus: AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez’s 2022 pay package was a staggering $26.3 million, undoubtedly boosted by patients who paid for the company’s high-priced drugs like Humira. Another case of Big Pharma executives making huge profits at the expense of patients. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

P4ADNow-MPDIRP-Comments-March-2023

“The Bill Will Harm The Ability Of Patients To Obtain Medications They Need At Prices They Can Afford”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The following statement was issued by David Mitchell, a cancer patient and founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, ahead of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health markup on H.R. 485:

“It is with great concern for protecting the ability of policymakers to utilize value analysis to ensure patients can obtain the best prescription drugs at the most appropriate and affordable prices, that Patients For Affordable Drugs Now (P4ADNow) strongly urges members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to vote against H.R. 485, the Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act of 2023, in its current form. The bill will not protect health care for all patients. Rather, it will harm the ability of patients to obtain the medications they need at prices they can afford and will prevent them from getting critical information on the value of drugs.

“As a patient with an incurable cancer whose drugs carry a combined list price of more than $900,000 per year, I know firsthand the importance of a drug price system that fairly prices drugs based on their value to patients. This bill aims to block the use of value analysis in the United States, a tool already used by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Medicaid, and many employers who provide drug coverage for millions of Americans. It goes beyond prohibiting the use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), a measure we do not advocate for at P4ADNow, and instead threatens the use of any form of value analysis in drug price assessment. 

“H.R. 485 will undermine current and future reforms to empower the federal government’s ability to rein in taxpayer spending and lower prices of drugs with unjustified price tags and little clinical benefit. Specifically, the bill could jeopardize the hard-won drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act which are already lowering costs for patients.

“It is axiomatic that to stimulate and reward innovative new drug development, we should pay more for high value drugs and less for low value drugs. Without value analysis, we lose a key tool to measure value for patients. 

“Members of Congress must use their power to preserve value analysis as part of a reliable system that clearly and transparently assesses the value of drugs as one central factor to arrive at appropriate prices by voting no on H.R. 485 as currently written.”  

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Too soon: Cherry blossom peak bloom ?. Not soon enough: Eli Lilly’s insulin price reduction ?.

Welcome To The Week In Review.

  1. The Inflation Reduction Act Keeps Bringing Relief

 2. Both Chambers Are Looking Into PBMs

3. Thank You, Taxpayers

4. More Patent Abuse By Big Pharma

5. Significant Savings From The Inflation Reduction Act

The drug price reforms in the Inflation Reduction Act provide savings to patients, employers, employees, and the government. A new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report estimates that the new drug price law will save people on Medicare $25 billion and will reduce the federal deficit by $237 billion from 2022 to 2031. “This really does demonstrate the cost savings for both seniors and the Medicare program,” says Megan O’Reilly, AARP vice president for health and family issues. CBO emphasizes the impact of the law for people on Medicare, who will have better ability to afford and access their medications, leading to a decreased need for other medical care such as hospital visits. CBO also expects prices on negotiated drugs to drop by about 50 percent. Senators ManchinMurray, and Markey spread the word this week about how the Inflation Reduction Act will provide relief from high drug prices for patients in their states. “This law is going to be life changing—and lifesaving—for so many seniors and people with disabilities who rely on Medicare,” Senator Murray shared at a roundtable. The reforms are wildly popular — 79 percent of voters across party lines support the $35 monthly insulin copay caps which will be especially impactful to people of color, who are disproportionately affected by diabetes. The savings from the historic drug price law are long-awaited. — (Congressional Budget OfficeAARPOffice of Senator Joe ManchinOffice of Senator Patty MurrayBoston HeraldData For ProgressWisPolitics

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Just like Angela Bassett, the Senate Judiciary Committee did the thing, and passed five bipartisan bills to ​​help fix key elements of our rigged drug price system.  

Welcome To The Week In Review.

  1. The Inflation Reduction Act Keeps Bringing Relief

 2. Senators Are Serious About PBM Reform

3.  It’s TIME To “Return The Patent System To Its Original Intent”   

This week, leaders in the drug pricing space and members of Congress are talking about how Big Pharma’s abuse of the U.S. drug patent system continues to force patients to pay high drug prices. “At the root of our nation’s drug pricing crisis is the industry’s egregious abuse of a broken drug patent system,” the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK)’s Tahir Amin and P4AD’s David Mitchell summarized in a new op-ed in TIME. The authors call on Congress to “stand up to drugmakers’ deceptive, anti-competitive tactics and return the patent system to its original intent.” Members of Congress are taking note of Big Pharma’s patent abuses, too. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and Reps. Katie Porter and Pramila Jayapal wrote a letter on Wednesday to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) asking the agency to closely review additional patent requests on Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. Merck is attempting to “[extend] its monopoly power over the drug” with additional patents that would delay competing drugs from coming to market, keep prices high, and limit access for patients. This inquiry follows the Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent passage of five bipartisan bills that include legislation to address patent abuse and increase coordination between the USPTO and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that patents are not unfairly blocking competition. We are grateful to see momentum and bipartisan support for patent reform from members of Congress – and we will keep fighting until the rigged patent system is fixed and patients can afford their medications. — (TIMEEndpoints

Bonus: ICYMI, check out last week’s media roundup of P4AD leaders and patient advocates debunking Big Pharma, fighting for future reforms, and celebrating recent wins.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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 narrows the 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.” 

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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.” 

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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.”

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Have a great weekend!