Now that you’re done binging the new season of Queer Eye and the Senate Finance markup, it’s time to catch up on your drug pricing news.
Welcome to the Week in Review in prescription drug pricing!
1. Wicked Big Win
2. Aging Out
3. It’s a Good Plan, Brent
4. Patients Take the Stand
5. Celgene Slammed
BOSTON — Governor Charlie Baker and Massachusetts lawmakers became national leaders in the fight to lower drug prices this week. Lawmakers struck a bipartisan budget deal that grants the state the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs in the state’s Medicaid program. Under the new program, the state can negotiate lower prices if a drug costs MassHealth $10 million a year or more than $25,000 per patient per year.
“Prescription drug spending in MassHealth has nearly doubled in the last five years, and Massachusetts residents have suffered under relentless price hikes,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We applaud Governor Baker, the state’s legislature, and consumer groups for taking a bipartisan stand. The budget’s success signals to states across the nation that working together we can bring Big Pharma to the negotiating table and get a better deal for state residents.”
The state’s $43.1 billion budget includes provisions to:
The program is expected to save taxpayers $80 million next year from negotiations with drug corporations. In support of the effort, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now ran a six-figure campaign backing changes to curtail runaway drug pricing. The campaign included:
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — In response to the news that the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a slate of reforms to lower prescription drug prices for patients and taxpayers, David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, issued the following statement:
“Americans are demanding action to lower drug prices, and the Senate Finance Committee has taken an important step forward with its proposals today. Most importantly, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act of 2019 would discourage Big Pharma from increasing the prices of prescription drugs at multiple times the rate of inflation each year. It would also cap seniors’ out of pocket costs in Medicare Part D at $3,100 annually. These changes will help the most vulnerable citizens afford prescription drugs, save taxpayers money, and hold the line on drug price and premium increases.
“The package protects innovation and maintains patient access to innovative drugs. And, by capping increases at the rate of inflation, it ensures that we don’t have to pay huge increases on initial high launch prices of drugs.
“Other elements of the package are significant, including the increase in the rebate cap and limits on spread pricing by PBMs in Medicaid.
“We urge members of the Senate Finance Committee to advance this package. Members of Congress must guard at every turn against changes that would weaken the bill. Voters have given Congress a mandate to lower drug prices, and patients can’t afford to wait any longer.”
BACKGROUND:
While we are encouraged by many of the changes the Senate Finance Committee has proposed, we also have a number of questions and concerns. We are hopeful the Committee will consider changes that:
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What’s hotter in D.C. right now — drug prices or the heat index?
1. Trust No One
2. Oh, Canada ??
3. All a Blur
4. “My love for you is like drug list prices: inexplicable.”
5. Weekend Read
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patients For Affordable Drugs Now today placed a six-figure ad buy in support of the administration’s proposed reforms to Medicare Part B that will lower drug prices and reduce patient out-of-pocket costs. As part of the campaign, TV and digital ads will tell the story of Ruth Rinehart, a cancer patient who went bankrupt and lost her home due to the price of her Part B prescription drugs. She urges Congress and the Administration to move forward and implement an International Pricing Index.
Watch the ad here. The six-figure buy will begin today. It will air on “Fox & Friends” and nationwide on YouTube, Twitter, and other digital platforms.
“Big Pharma is trying to stop President Trump from delivering on his promise to bring U.S. drug prices in line with what other nations pay,” said David Mitchell, a cancer patient and the founder of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Drug corporations deployed all the usual scare tactics and threats to stop this powerful proposal. We are redoubling our efforts to see that it is implemented.”
Currently, Americans pay far more for prescription drugs than other wealthy nations. Under the draft proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, the price Americans pay for expensive infused drugs in Medicare would fall from 80 percent more than other wealthy nations to only 26 percent more. The proposed rule is currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget. The drug industry has consistently attacked the proposal because the changes would lower prices while ensuring patient access to drugs.
Today’s media buy is part of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now’s ongoing campaign in support of the HHS’ International Pricing Index proposal. The campaign, which launched in January, includes TV and digital advertisements, patient fly-ins, polling, and videos featuring patients who stand to access more affordable drugs under the proposal.
By a 71-point margin, voters support HHS’ proposal to lower drug prices in Medicare Part B by implementing the 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, eight 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.
“Ruth” SCRIPT
I’ve had primary immune deficiency for over 25 years.
When we couldn’t afford my drugs any longer, we filed for bankruptcy and lost our home.
There’s a proposal in Washington to bring prices in line with what other countries pay.
It would lower the price of our most expensive drugs by 30 percent.
The International Pricing Index would be good for patients like me.
Contact your elected official. Tell them to support Trump’s plan to lower drug prices.
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Ugh, drug pricing. Water we going to do about it? We’re floating some ideas.
1. Don’t Sell Out Sickle Cell Patients
2. Program Canceled ?
3. Tea Leaves
4. Negotiation. The American Way!
5. California is Not Dreamin’
KEY POINTS:
CBS News // July 1, 2019
Price hikes on prescription drugs are surging in 2019, despite vows from lawmakers and the Trump administration to rein in pharmaceutical costs.
So far in 2019, more than 3,400 drugs have boosted their prices, a 17% increase compared with the roughly 2,900 drug price increases at the same time in 2018, according to a new analysis by Rx Savings Solutions, a consultant to health plans and employers.
The price increases come at a time when lawmakers and consumers are increasingly concerned about the escalating cost of medications, which are far outpacing wage growth and the cost of living. Four of 5 Americans believe the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable, according to a study earlier this year from the Kaiser Family Foundation. About one-third of patients say they’re skipping prescription medicine because of the cost, the survey found.
“In the political climate we live in and the conversations we’re having, that there are more drug price increases this year — you would think that wouldn’t be the case,” said Michael Rea, founder and CEO of Rx Savings Solutions. “It defines the difficulty that consumers have.”
To be sure, the hikes on more than 3,400 drugs represent a small share of the overall pharmaceutical market. But for patients who rely on one of those medicines, the costs can add to rapidly rising health care expenditures and create dilemmas about how to pay for their care.
The average price hike for those 3,400 drugs stands at 10.5%, or about 5 times the rate of inflation, the study found. About 41 drugs have boosted their prices by more than 100%, including one version of the antidepressant fluoxetine — also known as Prozac — whose cost has surged 879%, Rx Savings Solutions said.
Aside from fluoxetine, other commonly used drugs with big price increases in 2019 are:
Drug prices are rising because of a combination of pressure from shareholders to deliver higher profits and what Rea calls an “inelastic market.”
“It’s a good that people need, in many cases in order to stay alive,” he says. “You have a lot of flexibility to drive prices higher and higher.”
Consumers should try to find as much information as they can about their treatment options, such as whether another version of the drug or a similar medication, might offer a better value, Rea says.
Researching drug prices can also deliver savings, he says. Until recently, pharmacists weren’t allowed to provide pricing data because of their contracts with pharmacy benefit managers, but a Trump administration rule now bars these gag orders. Still, you’ll have to ask your pharmacist for price data, because they don’t have to volunteer it.
It soon may get slightly easier to get basic cost information under a new rule announced by the Trump administration last month, which will require pharmaceutical companies to reveal the price for many prescription drugs in TV commercials. The rule is expected to go into effect over the summer.
Even so, it can be difficult for consumers to get a handle on actual prices, given rebates and discounts offered by insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers off of inflated list prices.
“We don’t have an open and efficient market,” Rea noted. “Those things lead to this environment and to higher prices.”
That’s an issue with insulin, which Type 1 diabetics require to stay alive. Even though the medication was discovered nearly a century ago, its price has more than doubled over 5 years, causing financial hardship for many diabetics and prompting some to ration the medication to cut costs. In some cases, those decisions have proved fatal.
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SACRAMENTO — A California grandmother plans to stand up to Big Pharma at a state senate hearing Wednesday, sharing her story about unaffordable prescription drugs and speaking in favor of AB 824 — a first-in-nation bill that would end a drug company tactic used to block lower-priced generic competition.
Karen Macedon, a Sacramento waitress who lives with asthma and type 2 diabetes, will tell the Senate Health Committee, “Not a day goes by when I don’t think about the impact these conditions have on my life and the growing burden of paying for the medications that treat them.”
Karen’s diabetes medication costs more than $800 a month. There is no generic option.
AB 824, legislation introduced by Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Santa Rosa) and sponsored by state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, would make illegal a Big Pharma scheme called “pay-for-delay,” in which a brand drug maker pays a generic manufacturer not to bring a competitive product to market, driving big drug company profits and hurting patients waiting for less-expensive prescription drugs.
Macedon’s testimony will be delivered on Wednesday, July 3 before the Senate Health Committee at 1:30 PM.
Key points from Karen Macedon’s prepared remarks:
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