STATEMENT: Colorado Becomes Third State With Prescription Drug Affordability Board

DENVER — The following statement was issued by Lucy Westerfield, deputy executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, following Governor Jared Polis’ signing of SB 21-175, a bill that establishes a prescription drug affordability board designed to deliver relief to Coloradans suffering from high drug prices:

“On behalf of Colorado patients, we thank Governor Polis for signing into law SB 21-175, a groundbreaking bill that will establish the country’s third prescription drug affordability board. The new prescription drug affordability board, which has overwhelming support from Coloradans, will be the first board of its kind to have the power to set upper payment limits for all insurers, providing meaningful relief to patients who struggle to afford their medications due to high prices. This is an important step for Colorado and one we hope other states will follow to protect patients and stand up to Big Pharma.”

Background:

• Colorado is the third state in the country to establish a prescription drug affordability board, the first in the country to have a board with the authority to set upper payment limits, and the first in the country whose set rates apply to all insurers.
• SB 21-175 creates a prescription drug affordability board that would: 
  • Perform affordability reviews of prescription drugs; 
  • Establish upper payment limits for prescription drugs that are determined to be unaffordable for Coloradans;
  • Investigate, review, and establish more affordable prices for the most expensive and unaffordable prescription drugs; 
  • Investigate and review when drug companies sharply increase the price of a specific drug.
• Colorado patient Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia, advocated for SB 21-175 at a March press conference and then again at a May legislative hearing. Garcia relies on a medication called Humate-P, which costs $10,000 per vial. 
• Patients For Affordable Drugs Now mobilized Colorado residents to make more than 800 phone calls to legislators asking them to support the bill.

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DENVER — The following statement was issued by Lucy Westerfield, deputy executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, following the Colorado state legislature’s vote to pass SB 21-175, a bill that establishes a prescription drug affordability board designed to deliver relief to Coloradans suffering from high drug prices:

“The passage of SB 21-175 is a huge win for Colorado patients who have struggled with outrageous prescription drug prices for far too long. We are grateful to the Colorado state legislature for standing with patients and passing this groundbreaking bill to establish a prescription drug affordability board and meaningfully lower drug prices. We look forward to Governor Polis signing this bill into law.”

Background:

• If signed into law, SB 21-175 would create a prescription drug affordability board that would: 
  • Perform affordability reviews of prescription drugs; 
  • Establish upper payment limits for prescription drugs that are determined to be unaffordable for Coloradans. This is the first bill in the nation to provide this authority;
  • Investigate, review, and establish more affordable prices for the most expensive and unaffordable prescription drugs; 
  • Investigate and review when drug companies sharply increase the price of a specific drug.
• Colorado patient Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia, advocated for SB 21-175 at a March press conference and then again at a May legislative hearing. Garcia relies on a medication called Humate-P, which costs $10,000 per vial. 
• Patients For Affordable Drugs Now mobilized Colorado residents to make more than 800 phone calls to legislators asking them to support the bill.
• SB 21-175 passed out of the state legislature on June 8 and is headed to Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ desk, where he is expected to sign it into law in the coming weeks. 

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DENVER — Colorado patient advocate Kris Garcia will testify in front of the Colorado House Health and Insurance Committee today in support of SB 21-175, which would establish a prescription drug affordability board designed to deliver relief to Coloradans struggling with high drug prices.

Garcia, from Denver, lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia. He relies on a medication called Humate-P, which costs $10,000 per vial. Each time Garcia gets an infusion, he requires four vials. 

“The cost of these prescriptions has affected many decisions in my life,” Garcia, a father of three, will say. “I had to give up my dream of being a business owner because of how expensive my medications were. I now work multiple jobs for almost 80 hours a week, just to afford my medications and other expenses.” 

“I shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of financial ruin to my family just because of drug company prices,” Garcia will tell the committee. “I urge you to vote YES on SB 21-175. The bill would dramatically affect countless lives and save the livelihoods of Coloradans just like me. Please help fix this broken drug pricing system.”

SB 21-175 would create a prescription drug affordability board that would: 

• Perform affordability reviews of prescription drugs; 
• Establish upper payment limits for drugs that are determined to be unaffordable for Coloradans;
• Investigate, review, and establish more affordable prices for the most expensive and unaffordable drugs; 
• Investigate and review when drug companies sharply increase the price of a specific drug.

Garcia previously advocated for SB 21-175 at a press conference in March. 

The hearing and Garcia’s testimony can be watched here at 1:30 PM MT. 

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DENVER — The following statement was issued by Lucy Westerfield, deputy executive director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now, after the Colorado Senate passed SB 21-175, which would establish a prescription drug affordability board designed to deliver relief to Coloradans suffering from high drug prices: 

“For far too long, Coloradans have faced the outrageous prices of prescription drugs, forcing many to skip doses of their medications or simply go without. We applaud the Colorado Senate for passing SB 21-175, which would offer relief to Colorado patients by creating a prescription drug affordability board that reins in high prices. On behalf of patients, we urge the Colorado House to move quickly to advance this bill.”

Background:

• SB 21-175 would create a prescription drug affordability board that would: 
  • Perform affordability reviews of prescription drugs.
  • Establish upper payment limits for prescription drugs that are determined to be unaffordable for Coloradans.
  • Investigate, review, and establish more affordable prices for the most expensive and unaffordable prescription drugs.
  • Investigate and review when drug companies sharply increase the price of a specific drug.
• Colorado patient Kris Garcia, who lives with multiple bleeding disorders including hemophilia, advocated for SB 21-175 at a recent press conference. Garcia relies on a medication called Humate-P, which costs $10,000 per vial. 
• SB 21-175 will head next to the Colorado House in the coming weeks.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Bemidji cancer patient Ramae Hamrin will testify in front of the Minnesota House Commerce Finance and Policy Committee today in support of the bipartisan legislation HF 801, which would establish a prescription drug affordability board designed to protect Minnesota patients like Hamrin from unaffordable prescription drugs. 

Hamrin lives with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, and relies on Revlimid, an oral chemotherapy drug sold by Celgene/Bristol Myers Squibb, to keep her alive. Revlimid is priced at over $250,000 a year and, even on Medicare, Hamrin faces out-of-pocket costs of $15,000 a year. That is simply untenable for Hamrin. 

“In order to continue taking this life-saving drug, there is a chance I will have to deplete my life savings, cash out my 401(k), and sell my house. When those funds run out, I’m not sure what I will do. Usually, I am a planner — but I cannot plan for this,” Hamrin, age 50, will tell the committee. “My circumstances make me feel helpless at times, but I am grateful that I can share my story with all of you.”

“This bill to create a drug pricing board is an essential first step to hold drug companies accountable and fix this broken system. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. I strongly urge you to vote YES on HF 801 to protect patients from the burden of high drug prices.”

HF 801 would:  

• Establish a prescription drug affordability commission and an advisory council. These entities would work together to analyze drug pricing data and determine which drugs are excessively priced and cause affordability challenges. 
• If a drug is found to create an affordability challenge, the commission may establish an upper payment limit to all drug purchasers and payers in Minnesota. 

The hearing and Hamrin’s testimony can be watched here at 3:00 PM CST.  

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AUGUSTA, Maine — After a series of unanimous votes today, Maine senators advanced legislation that would hold drug corporations accountable for exorbitant price hikes and allow for the safe importation of prescription drugs from Canada. A package of bills aimed at lowering drug prices now moves to the House floor.
 
“Today’s vote shows that Mainers are taking charge in the fight to lower drug prices,” said Ben Wakana, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “We applaud consumer groups and the state legislature’s efforts to rein in drug prices, and we are proud patients are standing up against abusive pricing practices.”
 
In advance of today’s votes, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now published a series of patient stories to underscore the urgency of the drug pricing crisis in Maine. Additionally, four patients testified at an April hearing, and Mainers were given the tools to contact their legislators in support of the proposed changes.
 
Here’s how the pending legislation would benefit Mainers:

• LD 1162: Would require drug manufacturers to disclose the costs to develop, produce, and market certain drugs, and would build on a law passed last year that requires the Maine Health Data Organization to post the most expensive and commonly prescribed drugs in Maine.
   
• LD 1272: Would create a state-administered program to import wholesale drugs from Canada, which could then be purchased at a significant discount. Under the program, Mainers would save millions on prescription drugs.
   
• LD 1504: Would implement transparency between manufacturers, PBMs, and consumers. It would require that PBMs pass their rebates on to consumers or insurers to lower premiums. Consumers also must be offered the cash price of a drug if it is lower than their copay. 
   
• LD 1499: Would create the Maine Prescription Drug Affordability Board, an independent body with the authority to determine specific prescription drug spending targets based on a 10-year average.
   

Patient Perspective: 
 
Lori Dumont of Brewer: “My brother suffered ketoacidosis because he could not afford his insulin. Like so many others, his insulin costs were out of control. For both his long term and short term insulin he was paying about $1,500 a month. On a fixed income, high drug prices are literally a matter of life and death.”
 
Sabrina Burbeck of Old Town: “When my youngest son was 18 months old he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. In order to survive, he relies on Humalog Insulin. One vial of Humalog costs $350.”
 
Glenda Smith of Kennebunk: “My Symbicort, Lostatin, Spiriva, and other medications cost me more than $1,200/month, not to mention the $5,000 we have to pay out of pocket before insurance even begins to pay its portion. That is not realistic on our fixed income. My drug costs alone are more than my entire Social Security check.”
 
Christina Raymond of Limestone: “In order to manage my disease, I require several medications –– Lupron, Tamoxifen, and Neulasta –– in addition to my regular chemo treatments. Lupron costs me $1,500 per month and my Neulasta runs $6,000 per shot.”

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. — In response to news that Maryland’s law to create the nation’s first prescription drug affordability board will go into effect on July 1, 2019, Patients For Affordable Drugs Now Executive Director Ben Wakana issued the following statement:
 
“This is a huge victory for Maryland patients and taxpayers. We are asserting the power of citizens to push back against the abusive monopoly pricing of drug corporations, and this new law is a step toward the day when all taxpayers and patients can use their purchasing power to demand fair prices for the prescription drugs we need.”
 
BACKGROUND

• Gov. Larry Hogan announced today that he would neither veto nor sign the measure, meaning it will become law on July 1. 
• The Maryland legislature created the Prescription Drug Affordability Board on bipartisan votes. The bill would:
  • Create a five-member board to review new brand-name prescription drugs that enter the market at $30,000 or more per year or course of treatment.
  • Review existing brand name medications that increase in price by $3,000 or more per year.
  • Authorize the board, with the approval of the legislative policy committee, to establish maximum costs to be paid by state and local governments for certain high-cost medications.
• Patients For Affordable Drugs Now endorsed the legislation and ran an aggressive campaign to support the bill, including digital ads that gave thousands of state residents the tools to support its passage. The five-figure P4ADNow effort supported state partners, including AARP Maryland, NAACP, MedChi, and the Maryland Health Care For All Coalition.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — From coast to coast, patients are speaking out, and Big Pharma is on the run. Over the last two weeks, from California to Maine, states have taken meaningful steps to protect patients from higher drug prices and crack down on Big Pharma’s price gouging. Take a look:
 
Oregon (HB 2658)

• This week, Oregon lawmakers advanced out of a key committee a bill that would require drug makers to give patients and the state 60-day notice before spiking drug prices.

Maine (LD 1162, LD1272, LD 1387, LD1499)

• This week, legislators in Maine held hearings on bills that would require drug corporations to disclose the cost to develop, produce, and market certain drugs; allow the state and patients to import prescription drugs from Canada; and create a prescription drug affordability board to evaluate high-cost prescription drugs and set reasonable rates, among other changes. Four patients delivered powerful testimony in support of the slate of reforms. 

California (AB 824)

• Last week, a California bill to stop pay-for-delay deals passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee and moved to the Appropriations Committee for further consideration. The Big Pharma tactic limits patient choice and costs taxpayers billions each year. 

Maryland (HB 768)

• Last week, the Maryland legislature officially voted to create a groundbreaking Prescription Drug Affordability Board, an independent body with the authority to evaluate high-cost prescription drugs and set reasonable rates. The bill now moves to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk, with a chance to set a model for the nation to make prescription drugs more affordable. 

Massachusetts (HB 1133, SB 706)

• Last week, patients delivered powerful testimony at a closely watched hearing in the Commonwealth. Prescription drug spending in the state’s Medicaid program has doubled in the last five years, and lawmakers are weighing a sweeping package of reforms that would authorize MassHealth to negotiate drug prices, set upper payment limits for high-priced drugs, and require manufacturers to submit reports on profits, R&D costs, advertising, and marketing.

“Momentum is building across the country,” said Ben Wakana, Executive Director of Patients For Affordable Drugs Now. “Patients are turning up at statehouses to tell lawmakers just how harmful high drug prices have become — their voices are seeding a movement.”

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