Kanye and two drug pricing bills made a trip to the president’s office this week. Guess which made more news?
Welcome to the Week in Review in Drug Pricing.
1. Gag clauses — ✌️out
2. THIS IS NOT OK
3. Fingers crossed, cheaper insulin
4. Kickbacks make a comeback
5. Evers coming up with a plan
Pumpkin spice lattes flowed. Oprah covered her own magazine. A presidential text lit up our phones. Meanwhile, in the world of drug pricing…
1. Get your popcorn
2. XOXO, Gossip Girl…
3. It’s cheaper for this patient to go to the ER than to buy an EpiPen
4. Hello, Texas. Hello, Florida
5. The drug industry loves a good hurdle to generic entry
Does anyone have space in their brains this week for drug pricing news? If so, we’ve got you covered:
1. Big Pharma bailout?
2. We’ll take it!
3. Undercover nurses
4. “His words underpin the mentality of an entire industry.”
5. Who’s going to tell him?
A greedy drug company CEO incites a mass cringe. States keep pushing for change. And a Big Pharma CEO’s political ads play fast and loose with the facts.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. We guess ‘morality’ means different things to different people
A CEO expresses his belief that it is a “moral requirement” to charge patients high prices for a drug from the 1950s. I’m sorry, what? — (CNN)
2. No one believes in the system
Alex Azar isn’t counting on pharma to rein in drug costs. He’s taking action. Same here.— (Business Insider)
3. Anybody out there remember submitting a 340B comment?
Some patients who sent comments opposing 340B don’t remember sending the comments at all. Half of the thousands of comments were sent anonymously. Hmm… — (Kaiser Health News)
4. Big Pharma: kicking and screaming to keep prices high
States like Maryland, Nevada, and California have been trying to pass laws that will challenge high drug prices, as they have become a huge financial strain on state budgets. — (Fierce Healthcare)
5. Fact Check!
As the New Jersey senate race between Bob Hugin and Bob Menendez heats up, a reporter puts ad claims under the microscope. — (STAT)
Crazy rich drug companies. DIY hospital drugs. A California Congresswoman in Big Pharma’s pocket.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.
1. Crazy Rich Drug Companies
These families banded together to raise money for research into a new medication for cystinosis. But then they were priced out of the resulting drug. — (The Daily Beast)
2. August brought hot temps and high drug prices…
A new analysis by Wells Fargo showed drug corporations raised prices on 60 drugs in August. The median hike? 9.9 percent. Seven drugs saw a 100 percent gouge. #becausetheycan — (Axios)
3. We oppose the re-election of California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo
In California, a mom with multiple sclerosis can’t afford her medications. When a congresswoman does the industry’s bidding, Californians and Americans are harmed. — (P4AD Now)
4. Hospital drugs DIY
Fed up with shortages and rising costs, a not-for-profit organization is working to produce 14 generic drugs in hopes that the hospitals will pass on that savings to patients. — (Forbes)
5. Presidential tweets will not lower drug prices
While some manufacturers said that they are not planning on raising the prices of their drugs, others are unphased by the president’s tweets. Idea: Let Medicare negotiate. — (Forbes)
It’s Labor Day weekend, so you’re probably grilling and thinking about how Delaware outlawed gag clauses. Also, the Midterms are quickly becoming a referendum on drug prices.
1. Hattie’s Story
Hattie Saltzman, who lives with type 1 diabetes, grew tired of having to skip doses of insulin and splitting prescriptions with her dad for her life-sustaining medications. So she took a stand on national TV. — (TODAY)
2. Prices to be included on drug ads — but which prices?
It’s a little confusing. — (Forbes)
3. Gagged no more
Delaware is the latest state to make sure pharmacists can tell patients when it’s cheaper to pay cash to buy prescriptions than use insurance. A new law eliminates so-called “gag clauses,” the shady provisions written into pharmacy contracts by PBMs that forbid pharmacists from sharing this info. — (Delaware State News)
4. What’s the deal with rebates?
Patients For Affordable Drugs shared drug pricing principles on a proposed end to rebates in Medicare Part D in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. — (P4AD)
5. Midterms: a referendum on drug prices for seniors
Seniors and all Americans hurt and angered by rising prescription drug prices are primed to vote on the issue in the Midterms. Here are four questions they should be asking candidates. — (AARP)
BONUS shot — a PhRMA setback:
Political influence-peddler PhRMA is trying to knock down a monumental drug pricing transparency law in California, but a federal judge has tossed it out on procedural grounds — for now. Multiple sclerosis patient Victoria Stuessel played a role in the passage of the measure. — (NYT)
A dying patient records a message to a drug company CEO. Pharma middlemen royally rip us off. States revolt over drug costs.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. “I’m dying and you could save me right now.”
Cystic fibrosis patient Lora Moser faced $15,000 co-pays for a drug she fundraised to create. So she sent a YouTube message to the CEO of drugmaker Vertex from her hospital bed. — (KXAN)
2. A patient with Parkinson’s gets real about drug costs
Stahis Panagides, who lives with Parkinson’s, sat down with AARP to discuss difficulties affording 23 different medications every day. His family’s medical costs, including prescription drugs, add up to $23,000 a year. — (AARP)
3. Ripped off
Here’s why a patient who needed a stroke medication paid a $285 copay for a $40 drug. — (PBS)
4. Show us the receipts!
The Trump administration says its drug blueprint has already lowered prices, but we aren’t seeing it yet. Here’s why: — (The Washington Examiner)
5. Moving on up
Twenty-four states have passed 37 bills to help lower the cost of painfully high drug prices. As states rush to rein in prescription costs, Big Pharma keeps fighting to maintain the status quo. — (NYT)
A young man with diabetes loses his life to pharmaceutical greed. The EpiPen gets a generic in the midst of a frightening shortage. And a little boy begs Vertex Pharmaceuticals for his life.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing.
1. Insulin prices killed him
We need lower prices now or the body count will continue to rise. —(NBC)
2. Ohio to drug industry middlemen: You’re fired
Ohio Department of Medicaid is firing pharmacy benefit managers, citing millions of dollars in taxpayer waste. Will other states follow suit? — (The Columbus Dispatch)
3. Governors have ideas
The National Governors Association has released a report on how states should lower drug prices. States have been much more active in passing drug pricing reform than federal lawmakers. — (STAT)
4. The FDA does its job
We’re happy about the approval of a generic EpiPen. Let’s hope it’s affordable. — (NYT)
5. A little boy begs Vertex Pharmaceuticals for his life
Luis, 8, wants the Boston-based drugmaker Vertex Pharmaceuticals to lower the price of his cystic fibrosis medicine, so he can stay out of the hospital. But the drug corporation is playing hardball in the U.K. — (STAT)