Latest News | Dec 17, 2018

The Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing

‘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! 

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

3. Now streaming

4. In honor of Alec Smith

5. THAWED: That laughable Pfizer price hike freeze

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

2. Straight to the naughty list.

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

4. Lower prices or stock buybacks?

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

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

2. Minnesota, leading the way

3. The list price is not right

4. This plan sounds wicked awesome

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

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