New Plan Claiming To Cap Insulin Costs For Seniors Is More Complicated Than It Looks
Stat examines the limited role the policy, hailed by many political leaders this week, would play for seniors requiring insulin. Industry news also looks at Kymera's fund-raising efforts for blood cancer treatments and Danish efforts to enforce transparency on trials.
Stat:
Will Trump Plan To Cap Insulin Costs Help Seniors? It’s Complicated
The Trump administration claims its newest plan to cap insulin copays could solve seniors’ woes with the high cost of insulin. But the reality is more complicated. The plan, which was released Wednesday, would allow certain private Medicare plans to cap how much seniors can spend for insulin at $35 a month. It’s a politically popular policy being rolled out just as high insulin costs are dominating the conversation over high health care costs more generally. But there are open questions about the true impact of Trump’s plan. (Florko, 3/13)
Boston Globe:
Kymera Announces $102 Million In New Funding
Four years after it was founded, Kymera Therapeutics said Thursday that it has now raised more than a quarter-billion dollars from investors keen on its potential approach to treat a range of diseases, including blood cancers. The Cambridge, Mass., biotech shared the total after announcing that it had closed a third round of venture capital fundraising that totaled $102 million. The privately held startup plans to begin clinical trials of at least three drugs by next year. (Gardizy, 3/12)
Stat:
Danish Agency Eyes Sanctions — As In Prison — For Not Posting Trial Results
In the latest effort toward greater clinical trial transparency, the Danish Medicines Agency is threatening to pursue sanctions — including fines and prison sentences —against drug companies and universities that fail to publish their study results in a European database, as required. Under the current legal framework in Denmark, clinical trial sponsors that do not report results on time can be fined or given a prison sentence of up to four months. Although some drug makers and universities responded to a reminder warning issued last fall, most trial results have still not been posted as required and so the agency will approach the public prosecutor about penalties. (Silverman, 3/11)
