As talks between the White House and Senate Democrats progress, major drug pricing provisions, including Medicare negotiation, continue to be a top priority for inclusion in a reconciliation package. President Biden again told reporters this week that he believes Congress can pass reforms to lower drug prices. Secretary Yellen said, “We can bring down other costs that are burdening households like prescription drugs,” and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said the White House is working closely with the Senate to move the reconciliation bill forward and is hopeful they can get the job done. But lawmakers must act quickly as the midterm elections draw nearer — time is running out to pass this legislation that will both lower prices for patients and save money for taxpayers. Senators, Americans are counting on you to deliver on your promises and get these reforms across the finish line. — (Bloomberg, The Hill, The Hill,The Post-Standard)
2. INSULIN Act: A Gift To Big Pharma
This week, Senators Shaheen and Collins unveiled a bill to lower insulin costs — an issue that has special poignancy for Americans, as 4 out of 5 adults who live with diabetes or are caregivers for someone with diabetes have gone into debt to pay for insulin. However, the legislation only addresses insulin copays without guaranteeing lower list prices, which will result in cost-shifting and lead to higher premiums and taxes. Make no mistake: This bill is a capitulation to Big Pharma that allows drug makers to continue hiking insulin prices while leaving patients with less money in our pockets. If senators are serious about helping patients, they must pass the package of comprehensive drug pricing reforms, including capping insulin copays to $35 and historic provisions such as Medicare negotiation, through reconciliation. — (Roll Call, P4ADNow)
3. Pharma’s Up To No Good
Pharma’s shady behavior has been in the spotlight this month. Throughout June, P4AD has been highlightingsomeofthedrug companies with the highest 2021 revenues and how they repeatedly price gouge patients to maximize their profits. A new OpenSecrets report also details the deluge of recent pharma lobbying spending. Just last year, the drug industry groups spent over $350 million lobbying at the federal level and tens of millions more in state capitols — all to keep prices high and continue filling their coffers at the expense of patients. — (P4AD, OpenSecrets)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Who knows if the rumors are true about BTS breaking up? But what we do know is that we WILL break up Big Pharma’s monopoly pricing power.
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Reconciliation: It’s Alive!
The momentum to pass a reconciliation bill with drug pricing reforms is building as talks between Leader Schumer and Senator Manchin have progressed, with the majority leader’s staff reportedly taking the next steps to line up a vote for later this summer. President Biden said he believes the votes are there to pass drug pricing reform in an AP interview, and Speaker Pelosi also expressed optimism for the reconciliation bill, saying, “It’s alive.” Meanwhile, patients, advocates, and physicianswrote opinion pieces this week urging Congress to act quickly to lower drug prices. “It’s unfair that patients like me have to shell out thousands of dollars just to stay alive. We deserve better,” shares Bob Parant, a New York patient who lives with type 1 diabetes. “Policymakers face a choice: let prescription drug costs continue to rise unchecked, placing patients and families at continued risk, or pass sensible reforms that would make drugs more affordable for all Americans,” four doctors write. — (Politico, AP, New York Daily News, The Exponent-Telegram, The Hill, MedPage Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
2. Three Pinocchios For Pharma Front Group ? ? ?
A new fact check from The Washington Post debunks an ad from the pharma front group 60 Plus Association that dishonestly characterizes the drug pricing reforms before the Senate as a plan that would “strip $300 billion from Medicare” and leave patients with “fewer treatments and cures.” The truth? According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s analysis, the reforms will save taxpayers and the federal government $300 billion while only reducing the number of new drugs coming to market by 0.8 percent over the next 30 years. In a desperate move to maintain the industry’s unfettered pricing power, pharma-allied groups are filling the airwaves with lies. Americans know better. — (The Washington Post)
3. Pulling Back The Curtain On Blood Thinners
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission this week, Senator Klobuchar and Rep. Porter called on the agency to investigate the lockstep price hikes on the blood thinners Eliquis and Xarelto and whether they constitute a violation of antitrust laws. Eliquis and Xarelto, manufactured by BMS/Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, respectively, were the subjects of a recent P4AD report examining how the systematic price increases and patent gaming on these drugs hurt patients and raise costs for taxpayers. We applaud the senator and representative for taking on the pharmaceutical industry and fighting on behalf of patients. — (FiercePharma)
4. More Wins For Patients!
On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions passed an FDA bill that included three amendments to boost competition in the drug pricing system by easing the process for generic competition to come to market. One of the amendments, based on legislation P4ADNow has been advocating for since 2018, would close a loophole in the citizen petition process that brand-name drug makers have exploited to slow the approval of lower-priced generics to keep prices high. We thank Senators Murray, Baldwin, Hassan, and Paul for championing these amendments and urge the full Senate to pass this package with the citizen petition, orphan drug, and generic drug approval transparency reforms intact. — (P4ADNow)
5. Eyes On PBMs
The FTC is setting its sights on the byzantine practices of pharmacy benefit managers. On Thursday, the commission voted to study PBMs’ usage of rebates to determine if the system contributes to an anticompetitive prescription drug market that keeps prices high, and specifically pointed to insulin as a drug that has experienced soaring prices in part due to rebates paid to PBMs. This vote comes as a whistleblower suit alleges that CVS used its subsidiaries, including its PBM, Caremark, to push patients toward brand-name medications instead of cheaper generics in order to obtain higher rebates. The FTC’s decision to shine a light on these corporations and inject more transparency into the drug system is another welcome move for patients. — (Reuters, Endpoints News, FiercePharma)
One more thing: A new Gallup poll reveals that about 17 million Americans over 50 years old said they or a family member have not taken medication as prescribed to save money in the past year.
In a unanimous decision, the Federal Trade Commission voted this week to investigate the role of pharmacy benefit managers in the drug pricing supply chain and how their practices may influence high drug costs and patient access to drugs. As P4ADNow laid out in comments to the FTC, PBMs’ secret dealings have allowed them to become some of the most profitable players in the health care sector, and their opaque rebates and formulary decisions have a real impact on patient choice and the accessibility of cheaper generic competitors. P4ADNow has called for increased transparency and accountability into PBM practices; the commission’s investigation is a win for patients across the country. — (AP)
2. Soaring Prices Underscore Senators’ Work On Reconciliation
Passing comprehensive drug pricing reforms through reconciliation remains top of mind this week. As Treasury Secretary Yellen and Senator Kinghighlighted the importance of lowering prescription drug prices, Leader Schumer and Senator Manchin continued to discuss a framework for the reconciliation bill. Their work proceeds as a new research letter published in JAMA reveals the shocking growth of drug launch prices — the median price for a year’s supply of a new drug was $2,115 in 2008 and climbed to over $180,000 in 2021. It’s clear we need to end pharma’s unilateral pricing power to rein in soaring prices for patients. — (Punchbowl News, The Washington Post, CNN, WGME, Axios, NBC)
3. Life Or Death
Patientsandconstituentssharedtheirdrugpricingstories and advocated for reforms this week in news media and in letters to their local publications. In a CNBC segment, cancer patient and retired nurse Lynn Scarfuto described the life-or-death consequences of being unable to afford her medication, Imbruvica. “Too many Americans are forced to choose between buying the medications they need and paying for food, rent, gas, or utilities,” explains New Yorker Marie Santangelo. “I have found my payments increasing at the same time Big Pharma is receiving record profits,” shares Florida retiree Laura Fries. “We need this Congress to urgently pass a reconciliation package with comprehensive drug-pricing reforms to lower drug prices now,” writes Delaware patient Al Liebeskind. — (CNBC, Staten Island Advance, St. Augustine Record, Delaware State News, Nevada Current, Las Vegas Sun, The Capital Times, San Mateo Daily Journal)
One more thing: On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office urging the agency to address drug companies’ usage of patent thickets to insulate their products from competition.
President Biden, senators, and constituents all called on Congress to pass Medicare negotiation legislation this week. “We can reduce the price of prescription drugs by giving Medicare the power to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and capping the cost of insulin,” President Biden writes in an op-ed explaining his plan to lower costs for Americans. At separate events with AARP chapters across the nation, Senators Durbin, Ossoff, and Blumenthal committed to continue fighting for lower drug prices for patients. “We’re out of time — every morning another American wakes up with a chronic disease like I did,” shares Samantha Cooksey Strickland, a multiple sclerosis patient. “Outrageous drug costs shouldn’t make the difference in how their future looks.” — (The Wall Street Journal, AARP Illinois, AARP Georgia, Fox61, Tallahassee Democrat)
3. What Are We Paying For?
A new analysis found that U.S. cancer mortality rates are similar to those of other wealthy countries even though the United States spends twice as much on cancer care. The researchers partly attribute these high expenditures to Medicare’s inability to negotiate lower prices, the frequent price hikes on cancer drugs, and FDA approval of expensive drugs without clear evidence of clinical benefit. The exorbitant sums that patients and taxpayers pay for cancer care are lining the pockets of drug companies instead of contributing to better health outcomes for Americans. It’s time to fix our broken drug pricing system. — (EurekAlert!, GoozNews)
One more thing: Alongside Public Citizen and 19 other organizations, P4ADNow signed a letter to President Biden on Wednesday urging him to nominate a director of the National Institutes of Health who will prioritize fair prices for taxpayer-funded medications.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Voters Are Watching
Rep. Kurt Schrader’s loss in his primary election sends a clear message to Congress: Voters want effective action to lower drug prices. “It is a wake-up call across the country on the importance of taking steps to hold down the cost of medicine,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden. Senator Manchin confirmed that he and Leader Schumer are in conversation about moving forward a reconciliation package centering around drug pricing reforms. Americans are clear: Congress must pass drug pricing legislation now to lower costs for patients and taxpayers. Voters are watching. — (The Washington Post, Axios)
Big Pharma continued to make headlines this week for its unethical practices to extract maximum profits from patients and taxpayers. Drug giant AbbVie is facing a lawsuit for violating anti-kickback laws by providing doctors who prescribed its blockbuster drug Humira with registered nurses acting in the best interest of the company, and a class-action suit alleges that GSK blocked generics from entering the market for decades by shifting patients onto reformulations of inhalers with the same active ingredients. A new Oxfam report also describes how taxpayer-funded COVID-19 vaccines have brought in massive profits for drug companies and minted new billionaires in the process. Over and over again, the drug industry has shown it can’t be trusted to do the right thing — and why government reforms are necessary to protect patients from the abuses of Big Pharma. — (FiercePharma, FiercePharma, United Press International)
One more thing: As the Senate works on a reconciliation bill with drug pricing reforms, states are moving ahead to protect their residents from high prices. Maryland’s prescription drug affordability board — the first of its kind in the nation — began its work to establish upper payment limits this week, and a New Jersey bill to establish a drug affordability board passed a critical committee vote in the state Assembly. Thank you to all state lawmakers fighting for patients!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. “We Have The Backing Of The American People”
Majority Leader Schumer and Senator Manchin are continuing conversations to put together a reconciliation bill with the House-passed prescription drug pricing reforms, and members of Congress are doubling down on their commitment to lower drug prices. Senator Cortez Masto penned an op-ed explaining how Nevadans will benefit from the reforms, including Medicare negotiation, and Senator Sinema vowed to “keep working to lower costs for prescription drugs while fueling innovation.” Twenty House Democrats in competitive districts also sent a letter to Leader Schumer and Senator Wyden urging them to advance a reconciliation bill with the drug pricing reforms. “Let’s make good on this promise,” they write. “We have the votes and, more importantly, we have the backing of the American people.” — (Politico, Reno Gazette-Journal, Senator Sinema, Rep. Wild)
2. This Is Why We’re Fighting
Advocates ramped up their calls for drug pricing reforms this week. Meg Jackson-Drage, a Utah patient who lives with fibromyalgia and is unable to afford her medication Lyrica, shared her story in a Scripps segment and a letter in The Salt Lake Tribune. “These reforms would make it possible for me to afford my medications without constantly worrying about how I will be able to make ends meet,” Meg writes. Protect Our Care released new ads thanking members of Congress who are fighting for the drugpricing provisions, and AARP hosted a “People’s Hearing” where seniors described how high drug prices are hurting them. “My doctor has repeatedly prescribed medications, and then I go to the pharmacy and have to decline them due to how much it would cost me,” says Kitty Ruderman, who lives with high cholesterol and osteoporosis. “Congress needs to bring some relief from this madness now.” — (Scripps Media, The Salt Lake Tribune, Protect Our Care, AARP)
3. Profits Over Patients
Two new reports this week shed light on how drug companies exploit patients for profit. Researchers describe how manufacturers of inhalers have gamed the patent system to win monopoly pricing power and stave off competition for decades — of the 62 inhalers approved by the FDA over 35 years, only one had a new mechanism of action. Newly released internal documents also reveal the unethical behaviors that pharmaceutical companies engage in to increase prescriptions of their drugs. There’s no limit to what Big Pharma will do to grow its bottom line — and patients are paying with their lives. — (Endpoints News, ProPublica)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Big Pharma may want us to think the odds are stacked against us, but Rich Strike proved that no odds are too great to overcome.
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Time To Reset The System
On Tuesday, President Biden delivered a speech on inflation and described drug pricing reforms, including Medicare negotiation, as a key part of his plan to lower costs for Americans. Drug companies charge Americans over three times what people in other wealthy countries pay for the same brand-name drugs, resulting in sky-high costs for patients and taxpayers. A new AARP analysis found that manufacturers of themost costly drugs for Medicare Part D recouped an average of five times the development costs over a five-year period. To reset the rigged drugpricing system, lawmakers must tackle the headwaters of the problem — list prices of brand-name drugs — and allow Medicare to negotiate. Senators, you have the votes to pass drug pricing reforms through reconciliation. It’s time to act before the clock runs out. — (Spectrum News, AARP, HowStuffWorks)
2. In Focus: A Texas Patient’s Story
P4ADNow patient advocate Jacqueline Garibay shared her story with high drug prices in a Spectrum News Austin segment on the fight for drugpricing reform. “It was difficult for me to justify paying $4,000 a month, almost, for medication,” said Jacqueline, a 20-year-old college student who lives with ankylosing spondylitis and has had to forgo her biologic drug due to its high cost. “Without this, there’s a huge possibility that I lose mobility entirely.” Jacqueline and other patients are urging theSenate to advance the House-passed drug pricing reforms by Memorial Day. Patients aren’t giving up this fight for our lives and our future. — (Spectrum News)
3. Let Medicare Negotiate. Now.
This week, Senator Tammy Duckworth and advocacyleaders called on Congress to pass Medicare negotiation legislation to help patients afford their medications. “As a Veteran, I’m able to afford the medications I need in part because the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can negotiate with drug companies to make my prescriptions more affordable. But millions of other Americans don’t have that option,” explains Senator Duckworth. “Congress should … allow Medicare to negotiate lower drugprices, saving us money and making it easier for seniors to afford life-saving medicine,” writes Heather O’Loughlin, co-director of the Montana Budget and Policy Center. “We need our elected representatives to support price negotiations that actually stop the drug corporations from charging whatever they want and raising prices at will,” says Sue Dinsdale, director of the Iowa Citizen Action Network. — (The Southern Illinoisan, Missoula Current, The Gazette)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. New Patient Ads: “It’s Time To Get It Done”
On Tuesday, P4ADNow launched a six-figure ad campaign with two new video ads featuring patients who have struggled with the high prices of their prescription drugs calling on Congress to lower drug prices. This announcement is part of the “Push For Lower Rx Prices” launched last week by over 70 organizations pressing the Senate to make meaningful progress on comprehensive drug pricing reforms, including Medicare negotiation, by Memorial Day. “The medication I need to treat my MS is nearly $7,500 a month. I’m on Medicare, and I still can’t afford that,” says patient advocate Lisa from Detroit in one ad. Jacqueline, a college student and patient advocate from Austin who lives with ankylosing spondylitis, says in the other ad, “If Congress doesn’t lower drug prices now, a whole ’nother generation of us will suffer.” — (Politico)
2. Undeniable Momentum
Voters and legislators continue to show support for the comprehensive drug pricing reforms in Congress. A new poll released on Thursday by Data For Progress shows strong support for President Biden’s investment package, including bringing down the cost of prescription drugs. The poll finds that large majorities (over 80 percent) of Democrats and Republicans support the comprehensive drug price provisions being considered by the Senate, which include allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices. Senators Hirano, Schatz, Bennet, Murray and Whitehouse all voiced the urgent need for lower drug prices this week, and President Biden again touted Medicare negotiation as part of his plan to deliver lower prices to Americans. The momentum is here – Americansneed lower costs, and prescription drug pricing reform is top of mind. Congress, let’s get it done. — (Data For Progress, Maui Now, Concord Monitor, PBS NewsHour)
3. Tweetorial: Unaffordable Cancer Drugs
Vanderbilt professor and health services researcher Stacie Dusetzina tweeted a poignant thread detailing her new paper in The New England Journal of Medicine about the cost of cancer drugs for Medicare beneficiaries. Dusetzina explains that the difference between affording and not affording cancer treatment in Medicare is whether your cancer drugs are pills covered through Part D or infusions covered by Part B. This system is arbitrary and inequitable, which is why Dusetzina implores Congress to pass pricing reforms in Part D that lower prices and cap out-of-pocket costs. — (The New England Journal of Medicine, Twitter)
One more thing: P4ADNow submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week describing the ways that the opaque business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) may contribute to higher prices for patients and calling for a thoroughgoing investigation into PBM business practices.
