This week, the House of Representatives reintroduced H.R. 3 Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a package of drug pricing reforms that includes allowing Medicare to negotiate for lower prices, limiting price hikes, and investing expected savings into research at the National Institutes of Health. These are the comprehensive reforms that the president and members of Congress pledged to deliver on the campaign trail. We are grateful for the House’s leadership on this critical piece of legislation. — (FierceHealthcare)
2.Let’s Get The Job Done
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a campaign with a new ad on Friday highlighting President Biden’s campaign promises to lower drug prices through Medicare negotiation. With bipartisan support from the vast majority of Americans, now is the time to take bold and decisive action to bring down drug prices for all. Mr. President, we know you won’t let patients down. — (Bloomberg Government)
3.States Take On The Mantle
Minnesota, Oregon, and Maine state legislatures are also moving at full speed to protect patients from high prices. Just this week, the Minnesota House passed a bill that includes the establishment of a prescription drug affordability board, and the Oregon Senate passed a bill that would restrict abusive “pay-for-delay” deals. In Maine, patient advocate Lori Dumont wrote a letter to the editor sharing her brother’s experience with rationing insulin and urging legislators to advance a drug pricing bill package. From coast to coast, drug pricing is on the agenda. — (Take Action Minnesota, P4ADNow, Bangor Daily News)
4. No Sign Of Slowing
Drug spending in the United States increased by $535 billion from 2019 to 2020, according to a report from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. The authors say that expenditures will continue to grow, due in part to a number of expensive new drugs currently in development. We must relieve the burden of out-of-control drug prices on patients and taxpayers.— (Axios)
5. Advertising Isn’t R&D
Drug companies claim they need every dollar to fund the innovation of new drugs, but the industry continues to funnel billions of dollars into advertising and lobbying. Pharma spent over $6 billion on advertising last year, and more than $40 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year alone. Clearly, there’s room to reduce profits without killing the innovation patients need. — (FiercePharma, Endpoints News)
Welcome to the Week in Review.
A Step In The Right Direction
The House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill, S. 415, that would help generic drugs come to market and promote competition in the pharmaceutical industry. The Senate passed the bill in March, and it now heads to President Biden’s desk for his signature. While it’s a small win for patients, it is a clear indicator that Congress is taking drug pricing seriously — now it’s time for them to go further to reform the broken drug pricing system. — (Bloomberg Government)
2.Win-Win
Washington is buzzing with activity around drug pricing legislation that could potentially be included in President Biden’s upcoming American Families Plan. Legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies would both save hundreds of billions of dollars for taxpayers and bring relief to patients by restoring balance to our drug pricing system and curbing pharma’s unilateral pricing power. It’s a win-win. — (Axios, Bloomberg Government, The Washington Post)
3.Maine Tackles Medication Prices
This week, patient advocates Lori Dumont, Miriam Wolfe, and Sabrina Burbeck provided testimony to the Maine state legislature in support of a package of bills that would take on drug companies and lower prices. “It has been almost 100 years since insulin was discovered, and there is still no affordable option for people like my brother,” Lori said. “I don’t know how I’m going to pay these bills, but I have no other choice. While I figure things out, I am going without these medications,” Miriam shared. — (Maine Beacon)
4. Oregon For The People
In an op-ed, state Rep. Rachel Prusak and state Sen. Deb Patterson call on the Oregon legislature to pass a bill that would establish a prescription drug affordability board with the ability to set payment limits on excessively priced drugs. Their piece uplifts the story of Oregonian Mike Nielsen and his wife, Jacki, who have suffered from high drug prices for far too long. “It’s time to support our most vulnerable Oregonians, break free of pharmaceutical fear mongering, and fix the system for people,” they write.— (The Oregonian)
5. The High Price Of Cancer
Skyrocketing prices for cancer drugs are forcing patients to choose between filling prescriptions and paying for daily necessities, according to the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing. Prices for 54 cancer drugs increased by 40 percent between 2010 and 2018, resulting in an average price of more than $160,000 per year. Drug companies are literally putting a price on our lives. Patients deserve better. — (Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing)
To high drug prices we say, bye bye baby. Welcome to the Week in Review.
Big Pharma’s Big Lie
This week, Patients For Affordable Drugs released a new video dismantling Big Pharma’s myth that lowering drug prices by any amount will kill innovation and new drug development. The video features P4AD founder David Mitchell, who explains that taxpayers are the true drivers of innovation. “We can have fair prices and profits and get the innovation we need,” he says. “Don’t fall for Big Pharma’s big lie.”— (P4AD)
2.“We Need Reforms Now”
Patient advocates Karolina Chorvath, who lives with Crohn’s disease, and Jay Gironimi, who lives with cystic fibrosis, shared their stories about drug prices at a press conference this week with the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The event announced the governors’ proposed legislation that would cap annual drug price hikes and fine drug companies for excessive price increases. “Like so many others, I live at the mercy of drug corporations,” Karolina said. “I shouldn’t be forced to decide between financial ruin and detrimental health outcomes,” Jay added. — (Stamford Advocate)
3. Consequences Of Corporate Consolidation
In a new op-ed, law professor Robin Feldman breaks down how drug corporation mergers are eliminating competition, reducing innovation, and driving up drug prices. Pharma claims that drug prices must be kept high to incentivize innovation, yet the industry is in the midst of a waveofmergers that will likely reduce patient choice as prices continue to climb. It’s just another example of Big Pharma’s big time greed. — (The Washington Post)
4. Voters Demand Change
While pharma is enjoying a reputation boost during the pandemic, polling shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans still believe that high drug prices must be reined in and that Medicare should be allowed to negotiate for lower prices. Tackling high drug prices is a top priority for voters on both sides of the aisle. Lawmakers must stand up for their constituents and pass legislation to curb pharma’s predatory pricing practices. — (Vox)
5. CEOs Cash In
Robert Bradway, CEO of the pharma company Amgen, collected a $20 million compensation package in 2020 as the company’s sales surged. It’s a story we’ve heard over and over again during the past year: As the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the economy and taken hundreds of thousands of lives, drug company CEOs continue to raise prices and profit off the backs of Americans. — (FiercePharma)
If we can get a ship out of the Suez Canal, we can lower drug prices. Welcome to the Week in Review.
Presidential Promises
During a Politico interview, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said the administration’s upcoming American Family Plan will involve measures to lower health care costs, “particularly around prescription drugs.” It’s an encouraging sign that President Biden, who campaigned on the commitment of bringing down drug prices, intends to make good on his promise.— (Politico; watch at 22:18)
2.Congressional Movement On Drug Pricing
Members of Congress are in discussions to include Medicare negotiation for lower drug prices in a legislative package later this year. This is an exciting moment for patients burdened with high prices and proves that this year we have a real chance to reform our broken drug pricing system. Lawmakers must work together and deliver urgently needed change for patients across the country. — (The Hill)
3. We’re Fired Up
This week, Connecticut advocate Jay Gironimi and Oregon advocate Michael Nielsen made compelling cases for passing drug pricing legislation in their respective states. “There is plenty of room for both innovation and affordability. Other industries have to balance the two, but drug companies have patents on products we literally can’t live without. Our misfortunes build their fortunes,” Gironimi writes. “We cannot let them continue to exploit the lack of regulation on their industry — padding their profits and forcing those who need prescriptions to accept unaffordable price increases or suffer without those drugs,” Nielsen explains.— (The Connecticut Mirror, The Bend Bulletin)
4. Our Voices Will Prevail
Big Pharma knows that lawmakers are serious about passing legislation to lower drug prices, and the industry is intensifying its lobbying efforts to oppose important policy proposals like Medicare negotiation. Patients can’t compete with drug companies’ lobbying war chests, but pharma can’t match our powerful stories championing our right to affordable prescription drugs.— (Center for Responsive Politics)
5. “A Responsibility To Take Action”
In an op-ed, Colorado state legislators Sonya Jaquez Lewis and Julie Gonzales lay out their plan to reduce drug prices for Coloradans by establishing a prescription drug affordability board. The board would have the power to create upper payment limits for high-priced drugs. “Prescription drugs don’t work if we can’t afford to buy them, and it’s time to level the playing field for families.” — (Colorado Politics)
Get your vaccine now, a donut tomorrow, and a $175 booster next year?
Welcome to the Week in Review.
A Lesson From COVID-19 Vaccines
In response to the CDC director’s concern that drug companies will increase the price of COVID-19 vaccines, P4AD Founder David Mitchell authored a New York Times op-ed explaining how the COVID-19 vaccine story has made it clearer than ever that the government must be allowed to negotiate drug and vaccine prices on behalf of Americans. For decades, pharma has profited from a rigged system that uses taxpayer dollars to fund innovation and allows drug companies to set prices, raking in record profits. This year, we can break the cycle. — (The New York Times)
2.This Is The Moment
Congress has the best chance in years to pass game-changing legislation to lower drug prices. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill and in the White House alike are strongly considering including provisions to allow Medicare negotiation for drug prices, a tactic with overwhelming voter support, in the next budget reconciliation bill. “We would be missing an opportunity if we did not include lowering the cost of prescription drugs,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. Patients couldn’t agree more. — (Kaiser Health News)
3. Coast To Coast
At a Senate HELP subcommittee hearing on high drug prices this week, lawmakers shared the stories of constituents struggling to afford their medications. Senator Lisa Murkowski told the story of an Alaska patient who saw the price of her inhaler increase in January for the third year in a row, and Senator Tammy Baldwin read a Wisconsin patient’s account of how her high-priced cancer drugs are driving her family toward bankruptcy. Stories like these can be found in all 50 states — everysenator must take a stand against pharmaceutical price gouging. — (P4ADNow)
4. “Not The Life That I Want For My Son”
On Tuesday, patient advocate Sabrina Burbeck spoke out in support of a package of bills introduced by Maine state lawmakers to rein in high drug prices. Sabrina’s son, who lives with type 1 diabetes, relies on insulin that is priced at $350 per month. “He had to change what kind of insulin he takes based on costs, and has even resorted to rationing vials of insulin when he is in a pinch,” Sabrina said. “No one should have to live like this or make choices like this. This is not the life that I want for my son.” — (Public News Service)
5. Drugs Don’t Work If People Can’t Afford Them
A new survey found that nearly 4 in 10 Americans have had difficulty affording their prescription drugs in the past year. About 20 percent have taken on debt to pay for their drugs, and nearly 40 percent have had to change their medication regimen in some way because of high prices. We must keep fighting for a future where patients no longer have to choose between risking their health or their financial security. — (GoodRx)
One more thing: This week, P4AD Founder David Mitchell pushed back against the idea that Big Pharma deserves all the credit for COVID-19 vaccines in a Wall Street Journal letter. He breaks down just how much publicly funded research and the government are to thank for the vaccines.
Hello! I’m thrilled to be joining P4ADNow and all of you in the fight to lower drug prices.
Welcome to the Week in Review.
It’s Official: Secretary Becerra
In a win for patients facing high prescription drug prices, Xavier Becerra was confirmed as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday. Secretary Becerra has been clear and consistent in his commitment to lower drug prices, and we look forward to working with him to ensure that medications are accessible and affordable for all. — (Endpoints News)
2.Winning The Battle In Minnesota
Minnesota successfully defended its insulin affordability law, which provides free insulin to diabetes patients unable to afford the high prices, against a suit brought by industry trade group PhRMA. The law is named after Alec Smith, who died after rationing his insulin supply. Now that an insulin safety net has been established, lawmakers must continue the fight and pass legislation to lower list prices for all. — (MinnPost)
3. The Price Is Never Right
AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez netted a compensation package of $24 million last year, during a pandemic, as the company exceeded its revenue targets. This is an increase of 11 percent from 2019. AbbVie continues to hike the price of its blockbuster Humira, the best-selling drug that famously generates more revenue each year than the entire NFL. When pharma executives are incentivized to meet earnings targets for higher bonuses, the result is an endless cycle of price gouging. — (FiercePharma)
Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and their executives stand to gain huge fortunes from the pandemic. It’s estimated that each drug corporation will make at least $10 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales after the federal government invested hundreds of millions of dollars in these vaccines. Company executives are already cashing in, as the CEOs of Pfizer and J&J took home compensation packages of $21 million and $29 million, respectively, while Moderna’s CEO sold nearly $40 million worth of stock. It’s the definition of pandemic profiteering. — (The Guardian)
2.Double Talk
During an Axios interview, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said, “It will be terrible for society if price becomes an obstacle” to getting a COVID-19 vaccine. Yet, Pfizer’s chief financial officer admitted in February that the company is looking at increasing vaccine prices, from $19.50 to as much as $175 per dose after the pandemic period. To Mr. Bourla: Which is it? The decision, and the lives of millions, are in your hands. — (Axios)
3. Colorado Clamps Down
On Monday, Colorado patient advocate Kris Garcia shared his story in support of establishing a state prescription drug affordability board, which would have the power to evaluate and set upper payment limits on high-priced drugs. Kris relies on a medication that costs $10,000 per vial to manage several bleeding disorders. “I require four vials of this drug every time I get an infusion,” he said. “These shocking costs are [for] just one of the many drugs I need.” — (FOX 31)
4. Greed, Not Need
Pharma’s argument that high prices are necessary to fuel innovation just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Analyses show that the government contributed to the research and development of every new drug approved in the last decade, and that drug prices are far higher than what is needed to recoup R&D costs. Pharma can bring prices down; they just don’t want to. — (National Academy for State Health Policy)
5. Small Businesses Call For Lower Drug Prices
A new survey revealed 93 percent of small business owners hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for high drug prices and expensive insurance, and over 80 percent believe the federal government should negotiate with drug companies. Patients and small businesses agree — Congress must address high drug prices now. — (Small Business for America’s Future)
The Senate Finance Committee’s tie vote sent Xavier Becerra’s nomination for secretary of HHS to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer this week. Becerra clearly demonstrated his commitment to reforming the broken drug pricing system during his confirmation hearings. Patients need the majority leader to move quickly to bring the confirmation to a full Senate vote. — (The Hill)
2.Fight For Us
On Wednesday, Oregon patient advocate Michael Nielsen delivered testimony in support of a state bill that would ban collusive “pay-for-delay” deals between brand-name drug companies and generic manufacturers. Michael, a disabled combat veteran, described how he and his wife, Jacki, were unable to afford her hepatitis C medication when it came with a price of $13,000 every 90 days. “I am asking our legislators to fight for patients like us.” — (The Lund Report)
3. Pattern Of Profit
Pharma giant AstraZeneca sold its entire stake in COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna for about $1 billion last year. In 2020, Moderna’s stock price soared thanks to billions of dollars in investment from the federal government. It’s the latest in a pattern of drug corporations and their executives reaping huge profits from stock sales during the pandemic, thanks to taxpayers. — (FiercePharma)
4. Pharma Sees Permission To Price Gouge
A new study found that treatment of rare diseases comprised only 21 percent of spending on 15 top-selling partial orphan drugs, which can be used to treat both rare and common diseases. Researchers are concerned that the orphan drug designation, intended to incentivize the development of drugs for rare diseases, is being abused by pharma companies hoping to extend their monopolies on blockbuster drugs. Once again, pharma takes advantage of a system meant to benefit patients — and instead uses it to fill its coffers. — (University of Michigan)
5. Holding Patients Hostage
Drug companies’ January price hikes on hundreds of drugs are more than just another data point. For millions of patients, they represent an ever-increasing price tag on their lives. When Maria Miller learned that the price of her son’s drug for epileptic seizures had increased by another 4.7 percent, she broke down sobbing. “We are literally held hostage, and they’re using my son’s health to hold us hostage,” Miller said. “I don’t understand how this could become okay.” — (WTHR)
