We’re launching drug pricing news into your orbit no matter the forecast! Welcome to the Week In Review.
1. Hold the Applause
A change to the payment model on out-of-pocket insulin costs for some Medicare beneficiaries President Trump announced this week fell far short of expectations. America needs more from its leaders to relieve the crushing financial burden born from rising prescription drug prices, and there are better solutions on the table that will help more Americans afford vital medicines. — (STAT)
2. We Deserve a Say
Tens of millions of public dollars bankrolled the creation of Gilead’s remdesivir, a potential COVID-19 blockbuster. Yet the Big Pharma behemoth retains total control on setting a price. It’s plain wrong, and the public deserves to have a say on this potential pandemic drug’s final price. — (The Washington Post)
3. Set up to Pay Twice
Pharma giant Merck announced Tuesday that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority has promised $38 million toward the development of its COVID-19 vaccine. Once again, taxpayers are footing the bill for a vaccine without any guarantee that the final product will be affordable and accessible to everyone. — (FiercePharma)
4. “We must lift up our voices”
“The government’s unwillingness to take action on drug pricing has been the struggle of my life,” writes Clayton “DJ” Martin, who lives with sickle cell disease. “If Big Pharma is allowed to retain systemic control of the drug industry during this pandemic, it will not be just you or me that suffer the consequences, but the country as a whole.” We agree with Martin on the dire need for drug affordability during COVID-19 and always. — (The Orlando Sentinel)
5. Pharma Amps Up Drug Ad Spending in Midst of Pandemic
Sure, drugmakers could lower list prices as the country’s citizens reel from the economic impact of a once-in-a-lifetime public health crisis –– but instead, they’re taking advantage of a quarantined audience, pouring millions of dollars into TV ads in April alone. — (FiercePharma)
Nobody puts drug pricing in a corner. Welcome to the Week In Review!
1. Don’t Squander Public Goodwill
Pharma’s top brass have embarked on a feel-good press tour in an attempt to revive the industry’s heartless drug pricing image. Let’s remember what CEOs like J&J’s Alex Gorsky forget to mention: The large government contracts companies are receiving are a public investment. The people must have a say in the price of the drugs they bring to market. — (Kaiser Health News)
2. We’ll Have Lower Drug Prices, Fries, and a Coke
President Trump restated his interest in signing into law legislation to lower drug prices after Senator Chuck Grassley asked at a lunch Tuesday if the president still wants the Senate to put a drug pricing bill on his desk. We agree with Senator Grassley, who is lead sponsor of the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, and President Trump — Congress must take up the charge and move to pass meaningful drug pricing legislation. It’s more critical now than ever. — (The Hill)
3. Taxpayers Up COVID-19 Ante
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is sending up to $1.2 billion in taxpayer funds to AstraZeneca to support development and production of a COVID-19 vaccine. Taxpayers are vital business partners in accelerating the development of drugs for the novel coronavirus. In return, we need transparency into AstraZeneca’s spending, pricing, and profits. — (Reuters)
4. We’ve Got it Backwards
Our drug pricing system is broken, with governments fueling and funding innovation and then relinquishing that knowledge and those funds to private hands behind closed doors. The system places profits and corporate intellectual property rights ahead of the public good and has left the world unprepared for this pandemic — or the next. — (STAT)
5. Affordability Always
We don’t even know if Moderna’s vaccine candidate prevents COVID-19 in humans, but analysts are already talking about how the company could hike vaccine prices after the current pandemic subsides. Wall Street shouldn’t determine the price of a drug taxpayers are paying to create, and high drug prices will hurt Americans pandemic or no pandemic. We’ll be watching. — (Barron’s)
Take a break from baking sourdough, churning butter, and screaming into the void. Read the Week in Review in Drug Pricing!
1. On the Double:Give Taxpayers A Say
Taxpayers are mega-funders for Moderna’s research into a COVID-19 vaccine, one of the most promising options on the table. We applaud the investment in development, but taxpayers must have a final say in any resulting drug price. – (Patients For Affordable Drugs)
2. COVID-19 Did Not Make High Drug Prices Go Away
Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Mike Braun of Indiana point out that drug prices are still high, and COVID-19 will only make the problem worse for hard-working Americans. There is still time for Congress to act via the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act. — (The Washington Examiner)
3. We Shouldn’t Pay Twice
The House this week introduced a $3 trillion COVID-19 relief package. But lawmakers missed the mark on drug pricing reform when they appropriated billions more for drug development without including reasonable pricing guidelines. Congressional relief packages need stronger guardrails to protect taxpayers from pandemic profiteering. — (Bloomberg Law)
4. Transparency Triumphs in Minnesota!
On Tuesday, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed a bipartisan bill that requires pharmaceutical companies to report and explain significant drug price increases to the state or face a daily $10k fine. Patients applaud state legislators and the governor for fighting for all Minnesotans! — (Star Tribune)
5. Maryland Governor Bows to Big Pharma with Veto
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan vetoed a measure to provide funding for the state’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board, an entity lawmakers created in 2019 to assess drug price increases and make drug prices more affordable for state and local governments. We expect more from the governor and call on the state’s legislature to right his wrong at the first opportunity. — (Maryland Matters)
We’re not sure if X Æ A-12 is the name of a child or a new prescription drug, but we can tell you the latest in this week’s drug pricing news. Welcome to the Week in Review!
1. Pharma Sees Dollar Signs Ahead
Gilead Sciences, maker of the experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir, spent a company record-setting $2.45 million lobbying Washington in the first quarter of the year. As the lobbying money flowed, a provision in Congress’ COVID relief bill that required taxpayer-funded drugs to be affordable hit the cutting room floor. Coincidence? We think not. — (NPR)
2. Pandemic Price Hike: Called Out
Two House representatives called out drug company Jaguar Health this week after it hiked the price of the anti-diarrheal drug Mytesi by 220 percent. Jaguar Health had been seeking government approval for Mytesi to be prescribed for COVID-19 patients. Hmmmm. — (Reuters)
3. People Before Profit
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) announced that a fair list price for remdesivir could be as high as $4,500 per patient, which could result in billions of dollars in profit for Gilead Sciences from a publicly funded drug. Any pricing strategy for remdesivir must be transparent to taxpayers and ensure the drug is affordable for everyone. — (Business Insider)
4. It All Adds Up
Rheumatoid arthritis patients have been slammed with steady price increases for biologic medications, resulting in fewer savings for patients from the closure of the Medicare donut hole than anticipated, a new analysis found. Researchers from Vanderbilt University are calling for out-of-pocket maximums and limits on yearly cost increases to help patients afford their prescription drugs. We couldn’t agree more. — (Vanderbilt University Medical Center)
5. Be on the ? Out For COVID-19 Vaccine Monopolies
Public funds are the backbone of pharmaceutical research – especially when it comes to vaccines and treatments for COVID-19. As taxpayers, we must remain vigilant and demand these products come to market at an affordable price for all patients. — (Business Insider)
Just Amash up of this week’s drug pricing news! Welcome to the Week In Review.
1. Memo to Pharma: A Pandemic is NOT a Pay Day
Patients For Affordable Drugs scrutinized Johnson & Johnson’s promise to offer a “not-for-profit” COVID-19 vaccine and found that offer to be more than a little misleading. P4AD will continue to hold pharmaceutical corporations to account as the pandemic — and vaccines and treatments to curtail it – unfold. – (P4AD)
2. The People Want Drug Pricing Reform
A recent poll found that nearly two-thirds of adults in the U.S. have reported increases in the costs of prescription drugs since 2017, and one-third of U.S. adults consider a candidate’s position on lowering drug costs a top issue at the ballot box. As members of Congress work to navigate COVID-19, they would be well advised to keep pushing for federal drug pricing reforms. — (Gallup)
3. Minnesota Momentum
After an April victory for insulin affordability for Minnesotans, state lawmakers moved forward a separate bipartisan drug pricing plan that would require increased transparency measures to prevent unjustifiable price hikes. — (St. James Plaindealer)
4. Priced too High
The new cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta is a game-changer for patients with the life-shortening genetic disease. However, drug pricing watchdog ICER found the monopoly drugmaker, Vertex, gave the medication an unfair price tag that burdens patients and families with millions of dollars in lifetime costs. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them. — (STAT & ICER)
5. Let’s Stay the Course and Lower Drug Prices
We all want a vaccine to protect us from COVID-19. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that, in the midst of this pandemic, existing drugs will make up our first line of defense against the novel coronavirus. It’s one of numerous reasons we *must* prioritize lowering drug prices. — (Medpage Today)
1. Decades of disinterest
A pot of government gold – and the prospect for no-strings-attached profits – is fueling pharma’s interest in vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 after *decades* of disinterest in treating infectious disease. Read the second blog in our series on taxpayer funding for COVID-19 vaccine and treatment development. — (P4AD)
2. ? Cries for reform will grow louder ?
The old way Big Pharma conducts itself isn’t going to fly in our new pandemic paradigm. The public is watching, and if pharma hoards intellectual property and profits at the expense of public health, ensuing cries for reform will be deafening. — (Bloomberg Law)
3. Pandemic price gouging
A drug maker tripled the price of a pill as it pursued the medication’s use for coronavirus patients – and it’s not an isolated instance. Pharma, we’ve got our ? on you. — (Axios)
4. Follow the money
The author of “PHARMA: Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America,” discusses how drug industry lobbyists successfully blocked proposed measures in the recent $8.3 billion COVID-19 relief package that would have allowed the government to ensure fair prices for COVID-19 drugs. If pharma’s recent, and distant, sordid past has taught us anything, it’s that we can expect more of this. — (The Hill)
5. Without lower drug prices, expect more stories like this
A Kansas dad of four and aircraft mechanic was laid off just before the coronavirus struck and is about to lose his health insurance. He fears he’ll be forced to choose between feeding his children and buying his insulin. No one should have to make that choice. — (CBS)
Hey there all you cool cats and kittens, hope you are staying healthy at home! Welcome to the Week in Review in prescription drug pricing.
1. COVID-19: Follow the Money
Patients For Affordable Drugs dug into the massive taxpayer contributions toward COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. The findings? The real heroes of COVID-19 aren’t corner office executives, but the doctors and nurses, grocery store workers, and U.S. taxpayers whose tax dollars will drive the discovery of life-saving vaccines and treatments. — (Patients For Affordable Drugs)
2. Victory in Minnesota
Drug pricing and Insulin-for-All advocates in Minnesota are celebrating a win after the Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act was officially signed into law. The hard-won reform provides relief to those in urgent need and struggling to afford their insulin. — (Star Tribune)
3. Taxpayers Deserve a Say
A new NIH-led public-private partnership to accelerate COVID-19 treatments and vaccines is a welcome development — but it fails to address future pricing of those drugs. Since taxpayers are investing extraordinary amounts toward the development of COVID-19 drugs, they deserve a say when the time comes to set a price. — (NIH)
4. Members of Congress Call For Drug Pricing Action
As the pandemic’s economic fallout continues to devastate Americans financially and COVID-19 treatments and vaccines are under development, members of Congress are calling for action to address skyrocketing drug costs and ensure that COVID-19 drugs are affordable for all Americans. — (Here & Here)
5. States Taking Charge
States around the country continued to lead the way by passing sweeping drug price reforms ranging from insulin copay caps to PBM crackdowns, all within the last month. Even during a crisis, states are getting the job done. — (STAT)
With promising news on the horizon, we cannot stress this enough – stay home and save lives!
1. Taxpayers deserve a good deal
In the race to find COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, taxpayers are investing in research to get the job done. Drug corporations shouldn’t be allowed to set prices on products taxpayers helped to research and develop — they must partner with the US government to set fair and affordable prices for everyone. — (Inside Health Policy)
2. Patients make it happen ?
After patients penned a letter calling on insulin manufacturers to lower the price of insulin during the COVID-19 crisis, Eli Lilly announced they would offer a program that allows people with diabetes to purchase their insulin products for $35 a month. It’s a win for patients, but we still need action to *lower list prices for ALL.* — (CNBC)
3. Drug Pricing Reform NOW
From Maine to Nebraska, Americans are calling on Congress to take action and lower the cost of prescription drugs by passing the Prescription Drug Pricing Reform Act. — (Bangor Daily News) and (Lincoln Journal Star)
