Patient Advocates Launch $1 Million Campaign To Lower Medicare Part B Drug Prices

WASHINGTON D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a nearly $1 million campaign in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B. Under the proposal, Medicare would pay only 26 percent more than other wealthy countries for drugs administered by physicians or in hospital settings — that’s compared to the 80 percent more it pays today. But Big Pharma is attacking the proposal because the changes could actually rein in outrageous drug prices. Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s campaign will include digital advertisements, patient fly-ins, polling, and videos featuring patients who stand to access more affordable drugs under the proposal.
 
“American patients pay far more than people in other countries for prescription drugs, and it’s just plain wrong,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Out-of-control drug prices force hard working Americans to choose between groceries and their medications. HHS has a promising plan to use an International Pricing Index to bring U.S. drug prices more in line with drug prices in other wealthy countries. We’re standing up in support of this change because America’s prescription drug pricing system is broken, and patients need change now.”

The nationwide ads on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google will urge Americans to contact their senators and representatives in support of the HHS Part B demonstration (examples below).

According to a recent poll, voters support the HHS proposal to lower drug prices by a
71-point margin (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties agree that Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal.
 
Importantly, Americans find Big Pharma’s claim that the proposed reforms would hinder patient access to be wrong. Eight in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better careor have no impact on the care they receive. That’s bolstered by the fact that nine out of 10 big pharmaceutical companies actually spend more on advertising and marketing than on research and development, according to the Washington Post. There is no evidence the proposed Part B changes would impact patient access to drugs unless drug corporations withhold drugs from patients.
 
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now recently released a petition signed by more than 1,500 patient advocates urging the administration to move forward with the proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B. The letter was accompanied by a video featuring Ruth Rinehart, a patient with primary immune deficiency from Florida, and Mike Gaffney, a resident of Washington State who lives with a rare form of multiple myeloma called POEMS syndrome. In the video, the patients speak directly about what the Part B changes would mean for them.

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WASHINGTON, DC –– By a 71-point margin, voters support the Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B by implementing an International Pricing Index (80 percent support vs. 9 percent oppose). Majorities from both parties believe Democrats and Republicans in Congress should support the proposal that would lower prices for infused drugs administered in physician offices and hospitals.Importantly, 8 in 10 voters believe the proposal will result in better care or have no impact on the care they receive. Click here to read the poll.

Support for the proposed Medicare Part B reforms are widely popular.

• Among Democrats, 69 percent of voters say “even though I don’t normally agree with President Trump, his efforts to lower prescription drug costs for Medicare Part B should be supported by the Democratic majority in Congress.”
• Among Republicans, 83 percent of voters say “the Republican Majority in the Senate should support President Trump’s proposed changes to Medicare Part B.”
• 81 percent of voters think the Medicare Part B proposed changes would result in patients receiving better care (45 percent) or it would have no impact on the care that patients receive (36 percent).

Voters say drug prices are too high and both Congress and the President should do more to lower them.

• 85 percent of voters say lowering drug prices should be “a top” or “an important” priority for Congress.
• Only 9 percent of voters believe Big Pharma’s argument that drug prices are high because “it cost billions of dollars to develop new prescription drugs.” Instead they say that drug companies “jack up prices higher than they need to in order to have more profits” (50 percent) or because “drug companies spend millions of dollars contributing to the campaigns of members of Congress, who then do nothing to bring down the price of drugs” (21 percent). 
• 83 percent of voters believe that people in other countries “pay far less for prescription drugs than we pay in the United States.”

“Voters in this country are clamoring for reforms to lower drug prices and they want officials in Washington to take action to bring prices more in line with other wealthy nations,” said David Mitchell, a Medicare beneficiary, cancer patient, and the Founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs NOW. “This proposal will lower list prices and out-of-pocket costs for patients.”
 
75 percent of voters support—and 50 percent strongly support—the element of the proposal that will change the way doctors are paid to administer the drugs from a percentage to a fixed fee, thereby eliminating the incentive to prescribe more expensive drugs.

The telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted by GS Strategy Group from December 11-13, 2018. 50 percent of the interviews were completed via cell phone. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

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‘Tis the season — for drug corporations to spend tax windfalls buying back billions in stock while refusing to lower drug prices.
 
Welcome to the Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing!
 
1. AstroTurf: Activate! 

• Big Pharma is whipping its hundreds of pharma front groups into a fury to try to stop a good idea from *even becoming a federal proposal.* Why? Because the Medicare Part B International Pricing Index demo project would actually lower drug prices. — (AJMC) 

2. CEO carolers: “All I want for Christmas are my company’s own shares”

• Big Pharma CEOs could use their massive tax windfalls to lower drug prices. They are buying back billions of dollars in shares instead to enrich themselves at the expense of patients. — (Axios)

3. Now streaming

• You need a weekend drug pricing documentary in your life. So watch the new film, “DRUG$: The Price We Pay.” — (KALW & L.A. Times)  

4. In honor of Alec Smith

• Minneapolis resident Alec Smith died in 2017 after rationing insulin he could not afford. Lawmakers in Minnesota, where nearly a half million people live with diabetes, are ready to fight for a bill that would push back on insulin price gouging. Legislation named for Alec failed to pass last session.  — (Star Tribune) 

5. THAWED: That laughable Pfizer price hike freeze

• Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D.-Wis, demanded transparency from Pfizer and accused the pharma giant of playing political games in her latest letter to CEO Ian Read. The drug corporation is expected to raise prices on 41 drugs in January following empty promises of a price hike freeze.  — (FiercePharma)

1. More $$$ for Big Pharma? Thank u, next. 

• Drug companies are asking Congress to reduce their contributions to the Medicare Part D program. A new study finds that under the PhRMA proposal, beneficiaries could spend an additional $1.3 billion and patients would see increased premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs. — (PEW) 

2. Straight to the naughty list.

• The drug maker Actelion Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay a $360 million settlement stemming from an investigation into illegally funneled kickbacks through a patient-assistance charity. — (NYTimes)

3. You get a patent! You get a patent! Everyone gets a patent! 

• Drug giant Amgen has filed a grand total of 57 patents for its arthritis drug Enbrel, extending the drug’s market exclusivity through 2029. — (Axios)

4. Lower prices or stock buybacks?

• Multiple members of Congress criticize drug manufacturers for using savings from the tax overhaul to buy back shares rather than lowering prices for patients. — (WSJ) 

5. What do a Democratic senator and a Republican senator have in common? Drug pricing reform. 

• Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Ron Wyden introduce a bipartisan drug pricing bill tackling manufacturers using tactics to overcharge taxpayers for Medicaid rebates. —  (The Hill)

More women are headed to Washington. Women are disproportionately impacted by high drug prices, so increased representation is a good thing! 
 
1. Patients won. Drug prices won. 

Healthcare — and prescription drug prices in particular — moved voters to the polls. — (The Washington Post) 

2. What’s Next? Getting Results.

Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Nancy Pelosi all mentioned drug prices as an area of focus for the 116th Congress. — (STAT)

3. Big Pharma Campaign Cash –– Rejected

“This year, 72 percent of Red to Blue candidates — from all ideological factions — have made the same commitment [to reject corporate PAC money].” — (CQ Roll Call) 

4. Respect your elders, PhRMA

The drug lobby wants seniors to pay more so drug companies can juice their record profits. Good luck explaining that one to Grandma at Thanksgiving. — (Bloomberg)

5. Duck Tales

Want to know our lame duck focus? Read about it here. — (STAT)

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?” –– How Americans feel when reacting to the price of prescription drugs.

1. We have been saying this all along

Drug pricing is important. Voters care. — (Forbes)

2. MEMO: Investigate the insulin cartel

Physicians asked the FTC to investigate insulin price hikes. Three companies hold a oligopoly over insulin, which has tripled in price. — (The Hill)

3. Outgunned, Outmanned, Outnumbered, (but not) Outplanned

There are more pharmaceutical lobbyists than lawmakers on Capitol Hill. This year, lobbyists are on track to break their own spending record, with more than $21 million spent. –– (NYT) 

4. States take matters into own hands

Instead of waiting for Big Brother to get the job done, state lawmakers have taken matters into their own hands –– turning drug prices into a signature local campaign issue. — (STAT) 

5. Worse for women

Women use therapeutic drugs at a higher rate than men and are more likely to be single parents, so they’re most impacted by the high costs of prescription drugs.  — (Ms. Magazine)

Straight to pumpkin carving after this.
 
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.

1. Par-tAy around Part B reforms

The Trump administration took aim at lowering the cost of the most expensive drugs in Medicare Part B. Drug makers pushed back, but we’ve heard their tired arguments before. Let’s do this. — (AP)

2. Pharma’s worst nightmare

The drug lobby contemplates a strange future in which the left aligns with Trump to bring down drug prices. — (NYT)

3. Pharma’s sworn enemy?

Claire McCaskill has made prescription drug affordability central to her campaign as she fights for re-election. — (STAT)

4. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again

Only pharmaceutical companies set drug prices. Middlemen must be more transparent, but Pharma’s ploy to blame them is played out. — (Forbes)

5. Precision medicine raises tough questions

“Modern medicine gives us many gifts. But for many of us, those gifts are out of reach.” — (MIT Technology Review)

Direct-to-consumer drug ads: Trick or Treat? 

1. That’s On Point

• Posting the prices of drugs in TV ads won’t lower drug prices, but transparency doesn’t hurt. — (NPR) 

2. Minnesota, leading the way

• Minnesota is suing the three largest insulin manufacturers. Someone must hold the insulin cartel accountable. —  (Reuters)

3. The list price is not right

• Big Pharma argued that including the list price of drugs in TV ads could prevent patients from accessing drugs. One way to change that –– lower the list price of drugs! — (STAT) 

4. This plan sounds wicked awesome

• Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is cooking up a legislative proposal to rein in drug prices — or at least light up what’s behind rising prescription drug costs. — (CommonWealth)

5. This is why she should stay in the U.S. Senate

• Claire McCaskill highlights bipartisan achievements, including her work to bring down the prices of prescription drugs. — (YouTube)