‘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)
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)
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
“If there’s anything bipartisan, it’s lowering drug prices,” said the president after signing S.2553 and S.2554 into law. Pharmacists are now able to tell patients if their drugs are more affordable without health insurance. — (The Hill)
2. THIS IS NOT OK
The USMCA (new NAFTA) is extending the exclusivity period on biologics to 10 instead of seven years. This will make it more difficult for generic drugs to come to market. — (WashU Expert)
3. Fingers crossed, cheaper insulin
Recently a BMJ study revealed that, with cost being the greatest barrier to people with diabetes receiving their insulin, biosimilars may provide the answers. Why is USMCA making it harder to bring biosimilars to market? — (The Center for Biosimilars)
4. Kickbacks make a comeback
Pharmaceutical companies are paying off doctors to prescribe their patients the drugs they manufacture. Five years ago, GlaxoSmithKline was fined a few billion dollars for paying off doctors to prescribe patients specific drugs. They stopped and are starting back up again because everyone else is doing it. — (STAT)
5. Evers coming up with a plan
Democratic candidate for governor, Tony Evers, is making strides towards holding pharmaceutical manufacturers accountable for their wildly unregulated price hikes. — (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
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
It looks like Round 2 in the “Pharma thinks you owe it $4 billion” fight is set to begin, with a coalition of drug pricing allies in one corner, and Big Pharma in the other. — (Politico)
2. XOXO, Gossip Girl…
Who’s funding the secret group trying to keep drug prices high? No one knows, but they want to stay in the dark and criticize people in the light. Classic Dan Humphrey move. — (STAT)
3. It’s cheaper for this patient to go to the ER than to buy an EpiPen
Melissa LeClaire, a young mom to two girls, cannot afford to pay the $500 cost of her much-needed EpiPen, so instead, she takes her chances and pays a $200 emergency room copay. — (P4AD NOW)
4. Hello, Texas. Hello, Florida
Republican Congressman Francis Rooney is trying to lower drug prices. Republican Congressman Pete Sessions is not. — (Politico and McClatchy)
5. The drug industry loves a good hurdle to generic entry
Scott Gottlieb tells them to get over it. — (STAT)
