TL;DR of PhRMA’s statement on the House plan to lower drug prices? “We’re good with the high prices, thanks.” Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Get On Board the Negotiation Train
The House has offered up a robust plan that would allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. It would lead to major savings for patients and taxpayers across America. — (AP)
2.Patients Over Party!
Trump tweeted that he likes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing plan and called for getting it done “the bipartisan way.” Congress: Please do! — (STAT)
3. PhRMA and BIO LOL
PhRMA and BIO are threatening the end of days if taxpayers negotiate. MEMO: The profit margins of drug corporations are almost three times the average of the S&P 500. Plenty of room to lower drug prices and fund innovation there. — (HealthLeaders Media)
4. Product Hops Must Stop!
A patient and an academic gave this insidious Big Pharma tactic the what for at a House Congressional hearing. What’s it all mean? — (P4AD and Regulatory Focus)
5. International Pricing Index: Let’s Make a Deal
Everybody loves the International Pricing Index! (Except for pharma, but nobody likes them.) — (NPR)
1. Let. Medicare. Negotiate.
A leaked draft of a House plan to empower the U.S. government to negotiate drug prices injects enthusiasm into the drug pricing debate and overlaps with President Trump’s plan. — (New York Times/FiercePharma)
2. Momentum Grows for Senate Finance Bill
Republican lawmakers are voicing their support to the Senate’s bipartisan effort to lower drug prices by curtailing price hikes and lowering out-of-pocket costs in Medicare. — (Press Herald)
3. Speak Out
P4AD Digital Director Samantha Reid describes what it’s like to live with the financial uncertainty illness brings. High drug prices for drugs to treat Crohn’s disease certainly don’t help! — (Twitter)
4. On the Take
The first six months of 2019 saw $4 million in pharma campaign finance donations pour into lawmakers’ coffers. See who’s got their hand in the pill cash jar. — (KFF)
5. No, really. LOWER DRUG PRICES.
The latest polling again shows the public wants Congress to make lowering drug prices a top priority. — (KFF)
Pharma just took a DNA test. Turns out they’re 100% OVERPRICED.
1. “I have nothing. But I am alive, and I can still fight.”
Patient advocate Cynthia Stockton reflects on her experience with high drug prices as lawmakers weigh a measure that would help put an end to collusive pay-for-delay deals. — (The Sacramento Bee)
2. ? ← New Pharma Poll Numbers
According to Gallup’s annual review of U.S. public opinion, pharma is the lowest-rated industry in America. That’s a new low. — (Gallup)
3. PharmaCEOs Dish Dough
Drug company CEOs are opening their pockets and spending big bucks on a small targeted group of senators. — (STAT)
States have passed a record number of laws to rein in drug prices. Let’s keep the momentum going! — (USA Today)
Welcome to The Week in Review in Prescription Drug Pricing — Labor Day edition.
1. The $6 Million Claim
Pharma is siphoning hourly wages from the pockets of hard-working Americans. Read and watch: — (The New York Times & FX)
2. MS Mess
People living with multiple sclerosis face drug costs that quadrupled in a decade. — (Reuters)
3. Golden State Grapple
California patients are using their voices to tackle abusive pay-for-delay tactics and get the affordable drugs they need. — (@AGBecerra)
4. Congressional Cash Flow
Pharma is showering vulnerable Congressional members with cash to maintain influence as drug pricing scrutiny intensifies. — (USA Today)
5. No Info
The secrecy surrounding prescription drug prices has left prescribing doctors baffled. — (AP)
1. Slowing Down for the Speed Cameras
Under increasing scrutiny and pressure from patients and lawmakers alike, drug makers are still raising prices, just at slower rates than before. — (AP)
2. Clear as Day
Oregon wants drug price hikes OreGONE. A new transparency law means drug corporations don’t get to keep hikes in the dark any more. — (Biz Journals)
3. A choice no one should have to make
According to a new study, a significant number of working age adults with diabetes are rationing or skipping their medication due to sky-high costs.— (Huffington Post)
4. In His Own Words
P4AD’s David Mitchell shared his thoughts on the broken prescription drug market and the impact it has on patients. — (Washington Examiner)
5. Oh yeah?
A judge said HHS can’t make Big Pharma put its list prices in TV ads. HHS is pushing back. — (Reuters)
30-50 feral hogs couldn’t drag us away from bringing you all the news in drug pricing!
1. They Lied
Novartis lied to the FDA, then brought forth the world’s most expensive drug. Classic. — (CNN)
2. We (Already) PAID
The public needs more protection from Big Pharma profiteering off of billions in taxpayer funded drug research. — (Vox)
3. Authorized Scam
Brand drug manufacturers make “authorized” generics, products that only serve to maximize the monopoly drug makers’ profits and stifle realcompetition. — (Kaiser Health News)
4. “How many more young type 1 diabetes patients have to die…?”
Another young man lost his life due to outrageously high insulin costs, which doubled between 2012 and 2016. — (The Washington Post)
5. Boo, Hiss
Lifesaving antivenins face very little competition — so prices continue to rise. — (NPR)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Now that you’re done binging the new season of Queer Eye and the Senate Finance markup, it’s time to catch up on your drug pricing news.
Welcome to the Week in Review in prescription drug pricing!
1. Wicked Big Win
A bipartisan budget deal will grant the Massachusetts Secretary of Health the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs in the state’s Medicaid program. — (Boston Globe)
2. Aging Out
Young adults living with diabetes are rationing insulin and dying when they age out of their parents’ insurance plans. — (Buzzfeed)
The Senate Finance Committee unveiled a long-awaited package of drug pricing reforms that cap seniors’ out-of-pocket drug expenses at $3,100 and discourage Big Pharma from increasing the prices of prescription drugs at multiple times the rate of inflation each year. Patients will battle Big Pharma influence to see it through. — (Politico)
4. Patients Take the Stand
Patient advocates testified this week before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, illuminating for Congress the harm high drug prices inflict on American families. — (CSPAN)
5. Celgene Slammed
The drug maker has to pay $55 million to settle a class action lawsuit over alleged attempts to block generic competition, providing some restitution to those hit by Celgene’s sky-high monopoly prices for cancer medications. — (New Jersey Globe)
What’s hotter in D.C. right now — drug prices or the heat index?
