More And More, States Are Becoming Battleground For Drug Pricing War

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Prices Under Fire, In The States
All eyes are on Washington as the Senate grapples with health care legislation. Investors in drug companies should give some attention to state capitals, where a wave of bills designed to limit drug price increases are under consideration. Maryland is the first of about 30 states weighing such bills to pass a new law on drug pricing. The law, scheduled to take effect in October, outlaws “excessive” price hikes on generics and gives Maryland’s attorney general sweeping powers to roll back price hikes and fine companies for violations. Bills with similar enforcement mechanisms have been introduced in several other states, including New York, Missouri, Massachusetts, Maine, and Rhode Island. (Grant, 7/12)

The Associated Press: West Virginia Joins Lawsuit Alleging Generic Price Fixing
West Virginia’s attorney general has joined three other states and the District of Columbia to sue six generic drugmakers, alleging they conspired to hike prices for a common antibiotic and a diabetes medication. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the allegations will be “pursued vigorously.” (7/17)

Stat: Sanofi Denies Rejecting Army Request For A Fair Price On A Zika Vaccine
In a series of letters to the U.S. Army and several senators, Sanofi is denying that it rejected so-called fair pricing for a Zika virus vaccine that the company is developing with American taxpayer funds. The missives were sent as a growing number of federal and state lawmakers push the U.S. Army to negotiate a more favorable agreement with Sanofi, which is one of the world’s largest vaccine makers and has already received a $43 million U.S. research grant. (Silverman, 7/17)

The New York Times: Former Employee Testifies Shkreli Threatened Him And His Family
Tim Pierotti, who once ran a consumer hedge fund for Martin Shkreli, said he had already lost faith in his boss by the end of 2012. Then a letter from Mr. Shkreli came to his home, addressed to his wife. “Your husband has stolen $1.6 million from me,” it read. (Clifford, 7/18)

Stat: Hurt By A Drug? You Can File Suit In California If A Clinical Trial Took Place There
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court made it more difficult for people who file product-liability lawsuits against drug makers to engage in “forum shopping,” a practice in which someone files a lawsuit in a state where courts are seen as more hospitable to consumers. In that closely watched case, the court ruled hundreds of out-of-state plaintiffs failed to demonstrate a sufficient connection between injuries they allegedly suffered from a Bristol-Myers Squibb drug and company activities in California. The state has been a favorite venue for such suits, but the court noted the plaintiffs did not buy or ingest the drug there, and Bristol-Myers is not headquartered there. (Silverman, 7/18)

CQ Roll Call: Generics Could Get A Boost In Bid To Rein In Prescription Prices
The most talked about strategies to bring down sky-high drug costs involve letting the government more aggressively negotiate prices with manufacturers and permitting the importation of lower-cost drugs from abroad. But neither idea has sufficient support on Capitol Hill to move this year. That’s why, for now, the only likely bipartisan solutions that could move the needle on drug prices involve promoting competition from lower-cost generic drugs. When a drug’s patent expires, it opens the door for other companies to copy it. Since the generic makers don’t have to recoup the research costs, they can offer much lower prices. Still, while policy improvements now under consideration in Congress could help, they’re not a panacea. (Siddons, 7/17)

ProPublica: The Myth Of Drug Expiration Dates
The dates on drug labels are simply the point up to which the Food and Drug Administration and pharmaceutical companies guarantee their effectiveness, typically at two or three years. But the dates don’t necessarily mean they’re ineffective immediately after they “expire” — just that there’s no incentive for drugmakers to study whether they could still be usable. (Allen, 7/18)

Stat: What Are You Taking? Most-Prescribed Drugs Across The Nation Last Year
More than 4.4 billion prescriptions were filled in the United States last year, and the top 10 were all written for drugs now available in generic versions of pricier brand-name originals. Nearly half of all Americans are prescribed a drug at any given time. The most common ones, as you might expect, treat the most common chronic conditions — managing high blood pressure, for example, or controlling diabetes. Painkillers are also on the list, carrying with them the risk of substance abuse. But there are some surprises, too. (Blau, 7/19)

Georgia Health News: Old And New Drugs — And Often Staggering Costs
Alpharetta resident Robert M. Stevens has become all too familiar with the rapidly increasing cost of cancer drugs since 2006. That’s the year he began three rounds of chemo after his diagnosis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. (Miller, 7/11)

Stat: Trying A New Tack: Delivering Insulin To The Liver To Control Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetics, armed with glucose meters and insulin pens, are caught in a delicate high-wire act. Too much glucose wreaks havoc on nerves and blood vessels, while too little causes dizziness and nausea. A Cleveland biotech company is trying to change that by delivering insulin to the liver, where it naturally goes. (Woosen, 7/17)