Millennials with lifelong chronic illnesses need never-ending care and face alarmingly high and rising health care costs. That’s why members of this generation are speaking up to advocate for change across health care, including lowering drug prices. — (Teen Vogue)
2. Too much pain to smile
Scarlett Woodard, of Georgia, can’t afford the pricey drug Lyrica to combat her chronic pain, and as a result, it hurts too much for her to smile. That’s why Woodard pushed back against the rigged system in a letter to her local paper, encouraging Congress to pass the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act. — (Albany Herald)
3. Address insulin list prices
The Trump Administration proposed a program that aims to lower out-of-pocket costs for some Medicare beneficiaries. It’s not enough; we must address the skyrocketing list prices of insulin, the headwaters of the drug pricing crisis. — (The New York Times)
4. There are solutions
P4AD Founder David Mitchell talks with podcast host and oncologist Chadi Nabhan. The two discuss solutions to lower drug prices, from reforming the U.S. patent system to pricing new gene therapies fairly. — (Outspoken Oncology)
5. Yes, it can be done
Joe Grogan, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, penned an op-ed this week urging Congress to come together to pass drug pricing reform legislation. Yet again the administration endorsed thePrescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, which would rein in drug price hikes and help seniors afford vital medications. Let’s get it done! — (WSJ)
Slow news week. ?
1. Debunked
A new analysis published in JAMA undercuts one of pharma’s most misleading figures. All told, four studies and a handful of editorials in the influential journal’s special issue show there is plenty of room to reduce prices, maintain R&D, and provide a fair profit for these companies. — (BioPharma Dive)
2. Shareholders before R&D
A ? new analysis from Axios shows Big Pharma used a tax windfall to juice executive and investor payoffs instead of investing in R&D or lowering drug prices. May the data help fuel reforms. — (Axios)
3. We want our money back, Mallinckrodt
The Justice Department is suing Mallinckrodt, accusing it of defrauding Medicaid out of hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates for its blockbuster drug Acthar Gel. The drug has also cost Medicare billions and families in the epilepsy community have dealt with a 97,000 percent price spike since 2001. — (FiercePharma)
4. Guilty!
A Novartis generics unit will pay a $195 million fine — the largest the DOJ has ever levied — in a federal antitrust suit. Oh, and as part of the resolution, the pharmaceutical corporation could share with the feds its dealings with co-conspirators. — (AP)
5. Attorneys take on drug prices
In Texas, the Harris County Attorney filed a lawsuit accusing generic drug manufacturers of price fixing. Meanwhile, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed an amicus brief arguing for state regulation of pharmacy benefit managers. — (Houston Chronicle)
Patients For Affordable Drugs Now launched a new campaign calling on senators to support the Trump-backed Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (S. 2543). The legislation would rein in runaway drug price spikes and lower medicine costs for seniors. — (BioPhamra Dive)
2. Wrong answer
Secretary Azar told members of Congress this week he couldn’t guarantee an affordable coronavirus vaccine. Vaccines don’t work if patients can’t afford them! The Secretary appeared to walk back his remarks the following day. — (The Washington Post & Twitter)
3. Shifty
Drug maker Gilead is about to lose exclusivity on its HIV prevention drug Truvada. Determined to pad profits, they’re pretending their new PrEP drug, Descovy, is more effective. It’s not. — (STAT)
4. “Read the polls,” the voters want lower drug prices NOW
Two top advisers to President Trump told GOP senators that they ought to lower drug prices ahead of the 2020 election. Good advice, please take it, Congress! — (The Hill)
5. “It’s still somebody’s money.”
An Oregon father pushed back hard so his family and insurer would not have to pay an unnecessarily high drug price to help his little girl. We commend him for standing up and speaking out. — (KHN)
1. Patients Take a Stand
P4AD Advocates Emma, Randall, Savanna, and Emily were proud to support Sen. John Cornyn’s bipartisan bill — the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act — in Fort Worth, Texas this week. Let’s keep the momentum going! — (Twitter)
2. ISO Insulin
Patients are turning to the black market to afford insulin, a drug as vital to millions of Americans with diabetes as water. — (Reuters)
3. How PhRMA Lost its Mojo
Pressure from patients to lower prescription drug prices has loosened the drug industry’s death grip on DC. Bipartisan proposals hold promise for meaningful reform in 2020 in this new era of drug pricing reform. — (The Wall Street Journal)
4. Time to Crack Down
Seventy-eight percent of drugs associated with new patents are NOT NEW DRUGS. The poster child for patent abuse, AbbVie’s Humira, shows how far a drug maker will go to abuse the system at patient expense. Reform. Needed. Yesterday. — (The National Law Review)
5. The Harder They Fall
A federal probe into price fixing in the generics industry has ensnared a senior executive at Novartis’ generics unit. — (FiercePharma)
What will come first? Clarity on the Iowa caucus results or lower drug prices?
1. Let’s Go
This week’s State of the Union address gave a hat tip to the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, which could penalize price hikes and help seniors afford prescription drugs. Let’s get drug pricing reform over the finish line in 2020. — (USA Today)
2. A Scam Cloaked in Benevolence
Week in Review scribe Juliana Keeping testified before the House Way and Means Health Subcommittee this week on the impact of high drug costs for patients — including her 7-year-old, who has cystic fibrosis. — (News 9)
3. NEGOTIATE
If taxpayers negotiated for prescription drugs in Medicare like the VA already does, on insulin alone, we’d all save $4.4 billion in a year, a new analysis finds. — (STAT)
4. Smacked
Activists and the U.S. government are smacking Big Pharma’s Gilead around in court. Taxpayer investment spurred HIV-preventive drugs, and patients are loosening Gilead’s decade-long grip on the drugs’ monopoly. — (VICE)
5. Top Issue
Drug pricing is top-of-mind for 2020 voters. Hear from Clayton McCook, an Oklahoma dad whose daughter lives with Type 1 diabetes. The price of the insulin his 11-year-old needs to live has doubled since her diagnosis at age 3. — (Tradeoffs)
Did you know: You could buy Super Bowl tickets for you and three of your closest friends and still spend less than you would on a month’s supply of the hepatitis C medication Harvoni.
1. States Lead the Way
The federal government is dragging its feet on drug pricing reforms — but states are moving. Michigan and Nevada are launching initiatives to investigate drug pricing while Illinois just capped out-of-pocket cost for insulin. — (Bridge MI, The Nevada Independent, Chicago Tribune)
2. Paying Twice
A quarter of new drugs developed during the past decade had key, late-stage contributions from taxpayer-funded research, a new study shows. — (Annals of Internal Medicine)
3. Drugs Don’t Work if People Can’t Afford Them!
A new poll found that nearly half of adults denied drug coverage didn’t fill the prescription.You know what would solve this problem? LOWER DRUG PRICES! — (NPR)
4. Stunning Stat
Specialty drugs make up 2.2 percent of prescriptions but account for halfof drug costs, a new analysis shows. — (Modern Healthcare)
5.Sickle Cell Drug WAY Too Expensive
Drug pricing watchdog ICER found that the price of a new sickle cell disease drug, Oxbryta, would have to be cut by 90 percent to represent the true value of the drug. — (FiercePharma)
The only thing harder than tying milk, drug prices, and impeachment together in a joke? Actually lowering drug prices.
1. The Swarm
Big Pharma blasted through another all-time lobbying record, to the tune of $120 million. More pharma boots on the ground means patient voices are more critical now than ever. ✊ — (STAT)
2. Momentum Builds
Momentum is building for real reform in 2020. And Patients For Affordable Drugs is keeping up the fight! Watch a special message from our founder. — (P4AD)
3. ?hole Closed?
A widely loathed coverage gap in Medicare Part D has closed. But seniors are still being exposed to extreme drug costs, and more Congressional reform is needed. — (The New York Times)
4. Free-For-All
Government spending on drugs is outpacing inflation even after manufacturer rebates are accounted for. In other words, we’re all getting mugged behind the scenes while bad actors rake it in. — (Axios)
5. Pass That Bill!
HHS Secretary Alex Azar called the bipartisan Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act from Senators Grassley and Wyden “incredible,” and said, “We’ve got to get that package to the Senate floor.” We agree! Leader McConnell, the gavel’s all yours. — (The Washington Post)
1.LOL
This week, pharma CEOs convened to pitch ideas on how to lower drug prices. Not one offered lower prices as a solution. ? — (CNBC)
2. Triple for Taxpayers
Multiple sclerosis drugs tripled in cost to Medicare and Medicaid in the last seven years. So far, 2020 is more of the same. — (Science Daily)
3. Out of Touch
Insulin maker Eli Lilly is touting new, lower-priced insulin. Too bad $265 isn’t a deal. — (Reuters)
4. Why are Drug Prices So High?
One big cause: patent abuse. How do we fix that? I-MAK’s Priti Krishtel explains. — (TEDWomen)
5. Zolgensma Dystopia
Parents should not have to play the lottery for the health of their children. We need to put an end to Big Pharma’s predatory tactics. — (CTVNews)
