TikTok may be going away. But your drug pricing newsletter is here to stay.
1. #AskAboutDrugPrices
Patients For Affordable Drugs Action, our sister organization, launched a campaign this week featuring patients calling on fellow voters to support candidates who will commit to lowering drug prices. As part of the campaign, the group will launch digital ads in 15 states, starting this week with Georgia, Iowa, Montana, Minnesota, and Virginia. Patients For Affordable Drugs Action will also focus its efforts on exposing Senator Thom Tillis‘ record of turning his back on patients in service of Big Pharma. — (Patients For Affordable Drugs Action)
2. Yes, the U.S. Government Will Pay Twice for a COVID-19 Vaccine
U.S. taxpayers are underwriting the development of a COVID-19 vaccine — to the tune of $12 billion. But the drug corporations plan to charge taxpayers yet again for the final product. P4AD Founder and President David Mitchell breaks it down from the patient perspective on PBS NewsHour. Our rigged drug pricing system is long overdue for major reforms. — (PBS NewsHour)
3. Drug Prices: Not Falling
On Sunday, President Trump signed the most-favored nations executive order that ties Medicare drug prices to lower prices in other countries. However, many questions about the details of the executive order remain unanswered, and it’s unlikely that Americans will see lower drug prices anytime soon. Advancing the order was a step in the right direction, but we’ll be waiting to see if any meaningful action comes next. — (NPR)
4. Profit Maximizers Don’t Wear Capes
American tax dollars filled global pharma giant AstraZeneca’s coffers with $1.2 billion for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, but the company has CONTINUED TO RAISE DRUG PRICES this year — sometimes even twice on the same medication. — (Los Angeles Times)
5. ?Drug Corporations Cashing in on Crisis
Drug companies are peddling unsubstantiated “news” about progress in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, which leads to inflated stock value. Then, pharma executives and shareholders are selling their stock shares and making millions. Pharma’s relentless bad behavior underscores that Congress must act to protect us from pandemic profiteering. — (Newsweek)
1. Even More Pandemic Price Hikes
Amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, drug companies have hiked the prices of 645 brand-name drugs this year, including those used to treat chest pain and depression. Time and again, pharma companies display limitless greed. — (AnalySource)
2. Leave No One Behind
It’s been five years since “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli increased the price of the medication Daraprim by over 5,000 percent to $750 per pill — and the drug still costs that much. Widespread outrage has not stopped drug corporations’ unchecked powers to increase prescription drug prices. We must reform the system to serve all patients — and that means lowering drug prices for all conditions. — (Roll Call)
3. System of Patent Abuse
In a new podcast, host Angela Glover Blackwell and Priti Krishtel, the co-founder of the drug patent watchdog organization I-MAK, discuss how Big Pharma’s patent abuses disproportionately harm people of color. The fight for health equity must include tackling drug companies’ monopoly pricing power. — (Radical Imagination)
1. We’re Drug Pricing Voters
More than one-third of Americans cite lowering drug costs as a top issue influencing their 2020 vote. The numbers don’t lie: This November, Americans are looking for candidates who will stand up to Big Pharma and pass legislation to curb predatory drug pricing practices. — (Gallup)
2. Paying Twice
A new analysis found American tax dollars helped to fund every new drug approved in the past decade. We’re paying billions of dollars to produce life-saving medications, only to be overcharged while pharma juices profits. Our rigged drug pricing system has to change. — (Institute for New Economic Thinking)
3. Profiteering Poster Child
Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney plans to subpoena pharma giant AbbVie after the company failed to provide the House Committee on Oversight and Reform with requested information on blockbuster drugs Imbruvica and Humira. AbbVie has raised the price of Humira 18 times between 2009 and 2019. We’re glad to see the committee continue the investigation, which started in January 2019 under the leadership of the late then-Chairman Elijah Cummings. — (FiercePharma)
4. Made in Cali
This week, the California state legislature passed a bill that opens the door for the state to become the first to produce its own line of generic drugs. The measure would require the state’s health agency to partner with drug companies to manufacture or distribute generics, helping to drive down the cost of expensive prescriptions. — (Kaiser Health News)
5. “PhRMA lacks standing”
“PhRMA lacks standing,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said this week in response to a federal lawsuit brought by PhRMA that challenged the constitutionality of the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act.The legislation, named for a young man with type 1 diabetes who died after he rationed insulin, would provide an emergency supply of the drug to the numerous patients who struggle to afford the critical medication. — (MinnPost)
1. The Case of the Missing Executive Order
President Trump’s self-imposed deadline to advance a yet unseen most-favored nation executive order passed midnight Tuesday, with lots of talk, no real news. Pharma, meanwhile, reportedly floated a flimsy counteroffer, which the president must reject. Trump should advance the most-favored nation proposal to help stop Americans from paying the highest drug prices in the world. While this approach is short of a solution to the drug pricing crisis writ large — most Americans won’t experience savings if it’s implemented — it’s a step in the right direction. — (KHN)
2. There has been no “dramatic action” on drug pricing
No, drug prices are not falling. No, dramatic action has not been taken. Drug prices are rising during a global pandemic. — (NBC)
3. Profiteering on a Pandemic
Oxford University once pledged to donate the rights to its promising COVID-19 vaccine contender. Instead, the university signed an exclusive deal granting AstraZeneca sole rights to sell the vaccine, in a contract that would also allow the university to receive millions in royalties. In the midst of an unprecedented health crisis, we all remain at the mercy of drug corporations’ unfettered pricing power. — (KHN)
4. Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing
Pharma wants the COVID-19 pandemic to revive its bottomed-out image, but companies like Pfizer are already signaling to investors that prices will rise in the likely scenario that COVID-19 vaccinations become a seasonal event. It’s business as usual for Big Pharma. — (Bloomberg)
5. Crackdown Continues
The U.S. Justice Department dropped conspiracy charges on Teva Pharmaceuticals following an investigation into price fixing for drugs to treat conditions like heart disease. It’s the seventh drug maker charged in the department’s ongoing criminal antitrust probe. — (Reuters)
1. Moderna Sees Potential for Jackpot
Moderna revealed it could pocket up to $8.125 billion from the U.S. government for 500 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine. The set-up is clear: Taxpayers are on the hook for exorbitant amounts of money for a vaccine we’ve already 100 percent funded. — (FiercePharma)
2. Business as Usual
A new report from AnalySource shows it is business as usual for Big Pharma in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drug manufacturers in July raised prices for 65 brand-name drugs by 3.62 percent, matching almost exactly Big Pharma’s July 2019 price hikes. — (AnalySource)
3. Acts of Desperation
Insulin prices continue to skyrocket, and with it, some patients are forced to purchase their black-market insulin on sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace. The three insulin manufacturers are holding patients hostage, and Americans are desperate for relief. — (Sinclair Broadcast Group)
4. Pervasive Profiteering
The federal government sued pharma giant Teva, accusing the corporation of violating Medicare anti-kickback laws by funneling money to two “independent” patient assistance programs for the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. In the alleged scheme, Teva quadrupled the price of the drug to $73,326 a year between 2006 and 2015 and charged taxpayers via Medicare. We can’t say we’re surprised — this lawsuit is just the latest in a litany of bad behavior from Big Pharma. — (Reuters)
5. Pharma’s Statehouse Stampede
State lawmakers across the country are moving to cap out-of-pocket insulin prices, but drug company lobbyists are working overtime to water down the bills and protect pharma’s bottom line. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent lobbying legislators underscore the lengths pharma will go to continue charging the highest possible prices for life-saving medications. — (Fair Warning, NBC News)
Who’s having a busier week? Big Pharma or Maya Rudolph?
1. $2.5 Billion Reasons Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine Price Is Too High
Moderna cut a $1.5 billion deal with the U.S. government this week to produce 100 million doses of the corporation’s COVID-19 vaccine. The latest deal brings taxpayer contributions to Moderna to $2.5 billion, for a calculated price of $25 a dose. This follows Moderna’s admissions that its vaccine contender is 100 percent funded by U.S. taxpayers and that the company may be joint owners of the vaccine’s patents with the NIH. Our lawmakers need to step up their game and stop price gouging plans before we have a vaccine. — (Reuters)
2. New Jerseyans Push For Drug Pricing Reforms
New Jerseyans are struggling to afford prescription medications and nearly everyone agrees drug prices need to come down, a new surveyfound. That’s why government leaders and advocates — including Lisa Ann Wetzel-Trainor, a P4ADNow patient advocate — joined forces this week to push for reforms to America’s rigged drug pricing system. — (NJTV)
3. Big Pharma Pandemic Profiteers
Historic windfalls await Big Pharma if we allow the industry to move forward with its plans to rip off America in the COVID-19 era. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Congress must protect the public from pharma’s pandemic profiteering. Weekend reading ➡️ — (Rolling Stone)
4. Connecting with Cash
STAT’s in-depth reporting and data visualizations will let you follow the money to see how pharma showers members of Congress with cash. Drug companies and their trade groups have contributed $11 million to political funds for more than two-thirds of sitting members of Congress ahead of the 2020 election. — (STAT)
5. Pharma Blame Game Debunked
Remember how pharma loves to pretend PBMs are to blame for high drug prices? Axios found that while PBMs and pharma are both bad actors in the drug pricing world, pharma captured the lion’s share of proceeds — $50 billion in 2019 for just 10 blockbuster drugs. — (Axios)
1. Moderna’s Money Grab
In a conference call with investors Wednesday, the Moderna CEO hinted all bets are off on pricing for its 100 percent taxpayer-funded vaccine candidate once the current outbreak subsides. And, bad news, COVID-19 is likely here to stay. *But that’s not all.* Moderna also plans to charge the highest price yet of the vaccine candidates, at $32 to $37 per dose. Business as usual can’t stand in the COVID-19 era. — (NPR)
2. Patents Protecting Profits
Thirty-one state attorneys general pressured the federal government to ensure affordable prices for Gilead’s COVID-19 drug, remdesivir, by invoking a law to break the company’s patent hold on the drug. With a price tag of $3,120, Americans are going to pay 33 percent more than the rest of the world for a drug with only modest benefits for COVID-19 patients, even though U.S. taxpayers have pumped more than $70 millioninto its development. We’re glad to see Gilead’s opportunism being called out, but Americans won’t be protected until lawmakers pass legislation to prevent price gouging. — (USA Today)
3. Once Again, Paying Twice
The U.S. government agreed to pay $1 billion for 100 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s potential COVID-19 vaccine, on top of its previous commitment of $456 million for research and development. In a public health crisis, Americans are paying twice for essential vaccines and therapeutics. This cannot remain the norm. — (CNBC)
Well, Kodak certainly widened its aperture this week. Welcome to the Week In Review!
1. Pattern of Profiteering
Moderna is reportedly looking to price its potential COVID-19 vaccine at $50 to $60 per course, even after accepting nearly $1 billion in taxpayer support to float R&D. The news came a week after Pfizer announced a price of nearly $20 per dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. The companies have started a dangerous pattern of maximizing profits on the backs of Americans. — (Reuters)
2. Corporate Insiders Cash in on a Crisis
As drug companies’ stock values have skyrocketed thanks to progress on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, pharma executives are making a killing by selling their shares. While Americans are forced to make sacrifices, drug company executives see the pandemic as an opportunity to pocket hundreds of millions of dollars. — (The New York Times)
3. Another Injection of Funding
In the largest Operation Warp Speed contract yet, the U.S. government agreed to provide $2.1 billion for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed by pharma giants Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline. Over half of the funding is allocated to vaccine development, and the remainder will pay for 100 million doses for the United States. Let’s say it one more time: Taxpayers are underwriting the risk of development. We deserve fair prices when vaccines come to market. — (Bloomberg)
4. Stalled Drug Pricing Discussions
Pharma executives couldn’t be bothered to show up at a White House meeting Tuesday to discuss an executive order that would link drug prices in the U.S. to prices paid in other countries. The Trump administration should immediately advance its plans to lower prescription drug prices. We’ve already waited for too long. — (Politico)
5. We Shouldn’t Have to Worry
A recent Gallup poll found that nearly a third of non-white U.S. adults reported a time when they or a member of their household could not afford their medications in the last year. That’s compared to just one-fifth of white adults who reported the same. That disparity amplifies the importance of addressing drug pricing for all Americans. — (Gallup/West Health)
