Summer temperatures and drug prices rise. PBMs see dramz. And a slap on the wrist that (hopefully) stings.
Short week. Short week in review. Enjoy!
1. Pfizer can’t stop won’t stop…hiking drug prices
Nosy reporters this week noticed the pharmaceutical behemoth ignored pleas from the nation’s top officials to stop hiking drug prices, and hiked prices. — (Washington Examiner)
2. PBM dramz
Myth or fact: PBMs keep prices high to maintain profits, instead of bargaining with drug corporations for lower prices. Inquiring senators want to know. — (FierceHealthcare)
3. A $488 million slap on the wrist
If it hurts, we’re sure there’s an overpriced pill to ease AbbVie’s pain. — (STAT)
4. Who invited the pharma CEOs?
President Trump invited heads of pharmaceutical corporations to a private dinner in London. — (Endpoints News)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
States want to lasso drug costs. Voters are basically screaming for Congress to lower drug prices — will anyone listen? And a top-10 list you want to avoid.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. Make good choices
Most of us developed a sense of right and wrong by the age of 5. Drug corporations? Nah. That’s probably why Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a report this week outlining the causes and consequences of high drug prices in Medicare. — (Report)
2. Drugmaker defies state efforts to rein in costs
New York’s Medicaid program says Orkambi, a new Vertex drug to treat cystic fibrosis, is not worth the price. State officials identified 30 drugs that were priced too high and said those products’ manufacturers agreed to deeper discounts for a cool $60 million in taxpayer savings. Vertex was the only company that refused. The piece featured P4AD patient advocate Lora Moser, 40, who can’t afford Orkambi. — (The New York Times)
3. The problem is the price
Check out the top 10 most expensive drugs in the U.S. according to GoodRx’s 2018 rankings. — (Forbes)
4. Move over, pharma shills
Voters don’t like you much. — (KFF)
5. The Achthar scam
Medicare spent nearly $2 billion on H.P. Acthar Gel in five years during an aggressive marketing push from drugmakers to get the infant seizure medicine into the hands of America’s seniors. — (CNN)
See you next week!
Lies, deceit, and cartels!
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. The gift that keeps on taking
An investigation into patient assistance programs reveals the truth. They are a tool used by Big Pharma to drive up drug prices and keep cash flowing in. — (KARE11)
2. Former pharma exec makes jaw-dropping admission
Matt Eyles, the head of AHIP and former VP for Pfizer said, “I sat in many pricing committee discussions; not once did anyone ever say, ‘How much did we spend on research and development?’” We can’t even. — (Axios)
3. Murky money grab
Pharma sets drug prices super high. The middleman get really really rich. Patients get squeezed. Ohio reporters question our broken system. — (Columbus Dispatch)
4. Insulin cartel deserves a red card
The unjust and seemingly coordinated insulin price hikes have driven people on both sides of the aisle to demand answers. Congress must investigate the insulin drug cartel.— (The Hill)
5. Pharma pumps up stocks with corporate tax break cash
A new report by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) says billions in tax cuts have been used to fatten pharma shares, not lower prescription drug prices. Womp womp. — (Report)
Heads up:
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent a letter Friday calling for a federal investigation into “pay for delay” deals of biosimilar drugs. Bipartisan ❤️ for lower drug prices.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Are “massive” drug price cuts around the corner? Novartis raises drug prices. And the CREATES Act jumps a key hurdle.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug prices.
1. Negotiating price cuts?
Pharma CEOs coughed on their champagne when President Donald Trump said that major drugmakers would announce “massive” drug price cuts in mid-June. HHS officials have been making calls and meeting with pharma to push for price cuts. The government negotiating with drug companies is a good thing. Time for Medicare to do the same. — (The Hill)
2. Eli Lilly CEO says patients are “suffering”
If only he were the CEO of a major drug company who could do something about it. — (MSNBC)
3. Novartis raises the roof drug prices
Drug giant Novartis raised the prices of four drugs: Promacta, Mekinist, Tafinlar and Kisqali. If you’re keeping track, Novartis previous raised the price of Promacta in January.— (Politico)
4. CREATES jumps a key hurdle
Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-6 to move forward the CREATES Act, a bill to police abuses by brand-name drugmakers that stall generics from hitting the market. The forward movement marked a small and rare victory for patients from the nation’s capital. Kudos to Chairman Grassley and Senator Leahy for their leadership. — (STAT)
5. This is not what we meant by transparency in drug pricing
BIO conference guests are partying with topless dancers while everyday Americans can’t afford their prescription drugs. So there’s that. — (Washington Examiner)
Have a great weekend!
Drug prices crush seniors with rationed pill stashes. Sen. Claire McCaskill sends the Sunshine Act to CrossFit classes. And dry eye patent rental gives judges whiplash.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug prices!
1. Skimping not saving
Seniors aren’t filling prescriptions as often, and they’re being crushed by drug prices nonetheless. — (Associated Press)
2. Will the Sunshine Act hit the gym?
Sen. Claire McCaskill wants to strengthen the Sunshine Act. Now, a federal database launched in 2014 reports payments drug and device makers make to physicians. The lawmaker’s bill would additionally require drug makers to report payments made to patient advocacy groups and professional societies. Sounds good to us! — (STAT)
3. Resurrection
The CREATES Act is back from the dead — again, maybe. The long-stalled measure with wide bipartisan support would bring generic drugs to market faster and lower drug prices. Sadly, it’s being used in a weird, complex game of donut hole dodgeball. — (STAT)
4. Remember the time…
Remember that one time Allergan tried to skirt patent law by selling its patents on the dry eye drug Restasis to an American Indian tribe? In case you forgot, here’s where the case stands and a brief history of the company’s nefarious moves. — (Bloomberg)
5. Hike one, Hike two
Bayer Pharmaceutical just hiked the list prices of two cancer drugs more than $1,000 per month. It’s the second price increase for the two drugs in six months. Those private CEO flights and steak dinners don’t pay for themselves. — (Washington Post)
Pharma drinks from both sides of the trough. The little-known trick Medicare beneficiaries can use to save cash. And a CVS insider blows the whistle on a major alleged rip-off.
Welcome to the week in review in prescription drug pricing!
1. Both sides of the trough
As taxpayers we all pay for research into new drugs at the National Institutes of Health. Then we all pay again when we buy the drugs. — (NYT)
2. (Don’t) gag me
Medicare beneficiaries might score a better deal for prescriptions if they ask for the cash price — but they have to know to ask. — (NPR)
3. Doing just fine
Those health care CEOs. Just fine. — (AP)
4. Let Gottlieb be your guide
The commish furnishes guidance to make it easier for generics to enter the drug market. But we still need Congress to pass CREATES. — (FierceHealthcare)
5. We will watch this suit carefully!
If CVS whistleblower claims are true, it explains why PBMs prefer secrecy. — (WKYC3)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Ohio takes aim at gag clauses. A patient yells into the void. And the federal government doses shame. Welcome to the Week in Review in drug pricing!
1. Ohio takes another step toward PBM transparency
In Ohio, a House committee recommended passage of HB 479, which would crack down on PBM opacity by banning “gag rules” that stop pharmacists from telling their customers about cheaper options for obtaining their medicines. And that’s a step in the right direction. — (The Columbus Dispatch)
2. Shouting into the void
P4AD helped 40-year-old CF patient Lora Moser, who raised $750,000 to fund the research behind Orkambi, a drug she can no longer afford, tell the Vertex CEO what she thinks. Will he hear her? The effort follows the May 3 release of an Institute For Clinical and Economic Review analysis, which says Vertex’s cystic fibrosis drugs are overpriced by hundreds of thousands of dollars. We at P4AD hope we can convince Vertex to lower the prices of its charity-funded drugs so patients like Lora never have to go without. — (Inside Health Policy)
3. Dose of shame
Would requiring prices in drug ads do any good? Is it legal? — (NYT)
4. Called out
The FDA calls out drug makers delaying generics. Which is great… but there is this obvious legislative solution floating around that would be really easy to get behind, too, so… — (USA Today)
5. Cancer drug spending doubled in 5 years
And there’s no end in sight! — (NBC)
A stormy turn in the drug pricing world and a Rose Garden speech by the president that could have used more thorns.
Welcome to the Week in Review in Drug Pricing!
1. Novartis should have used $1.2 million to repay cancer patients’ debt instead of paying a Trump attorney for special access.
The pharmaceutical giant paid $1.2 million to a Trump attorney. Here’s a better idea: repay patients who take Gleevec, a Novartis drug that rose in price from $26,000 in 2001 to $140,000 in 2017, an increase of nearly 440 percent. “My out of pocket for that drug with Medicare Part D insurance has come to, so far, $60,000 and has cut deeply into my retirement money, which is incredibly devastating and scary…I’m going to be in the poor house a lot sooner than I thought,” patient advocate Joan Tramontano told us. Watch Joan talk about the impact of Novartis’ price hikes on her life. — (STAT)
2. President Trump’s plans to lower drug prices don’t include direct Medicare negotiation
And that’s a shame, though there are positive steps toward transparency in the 50-point plan released Friday. — (AP)
3. Will the Administration’s proposals make a difference for patients?
David Mitchell, a cancer patient, and the president of Patients For Affordable Drugs, weighed in on PBS NewsHour. “We got a bunch of singles and we got a couple of whiffs. There are some things in this set of proposals that will save money for some people, especially people on Medicare who are using very high-cost drugs. But the president promised that he would lower list prices. And if you look at the proposal, the shortest part is about lowering list prices, and we really have to get at list prices set by the drug companies if we’re going to drive down prices overall.” — (PBS NewsHour)
4. The impact of a 100,000 percent drug price hike on a small town
After the price of a prescription drug for infants experiencing seizures soared 100,000 percent, the mayor of an Illinois town went looking for answers. — (60 Minutes)
5. Drugs don’t work if people can’t afford them
We tend to agree. — (STAT)