While Some Experts Tout Bernie Sanders’ Drug Pricing Plan As One Of First Solid Solutions, Others Warn It Will Hurt Innovation

Modern Healthcare: Could Sanders' Plan To Lower Drug Prices Backfire?
Sen. Bernie Sanders' bill threatening to cut pharmaceutical companies' patent protections if their drug prices are too high has been hailed by some patient advocates as one of the first solid solutions to one of the healthcare industry's most talked about issues. But drug industry insiders and analysts warn the loss of revenue caused by the Vermont independent lawmaker's plan could drive pharmaceutical companies to invest less in developing breakthrough medications. (Johnson, 11/26)

Stat: Pharma-Backed Group Attacks A Controversial Insurance Tool 
As more insurers and employers use a new tool called copay accumulators to fend off copay assistance from drug makers, the pharmaceutical industry is fighting back with an analysis that suggests employers should think twice because they may be at risk for doing so. Copay accumulators have been embraced over the past year by a growing number of insurers and employers in hopes of limiting prescription drug spending. The reason is that accumulators do not count the value of any copay assistance cards or coupons — which drug makers often readily provide — toward out-of-pocket medicine costs that are applied toward deductibles. (Silverman, 11/26)

The Hill: Representing Patients’ Voices
[Bob] Hugin became the first target of Patients for Affordable Drugs Action, the group’s political arm.The group spent $3.5 million on ads against Hugin — just a fraction of all spending in the hotly contested race, but money [David] Mitchell said was critical to informing New Jersey voters about the Republican’s record. (Hellmann, 11/27)

Roll Call: Grassley’s Move To Finance Committee Could Bolster Drug Price Efforts
Sen. Charles E. Grassley’s return to the helm of the Finance Committee could put him in a position to address high prescription prices, although former aides say his biggest initial contribution to the drug debate will be his zeal for accountability. Mark Hayes, a former Finance chief health counsel under Grassley, said the Iowa Republican’s well-earned reputation for oversight can be a catalyst for action. “While the legislative process can often present its challenges, shining a light on an issue can often get change moving faster,” Hayes said. (Siddons, 11/26)

The Hill: GOP, Dems Have 'Rare' Opportunity To Work Together On Drug Prices, Says Advocate
Lauren Blair, the communications director at the Campaign for Sustainable Drug Pricing, said on Tuesday that Democrats and Republicans have the chance to come together on lowering drug prices in 2019. "This is a rare bipartisan opportunity that we see," Blair told Hill.TV's Buck Sexton and Jamal Simmons on "Rising." "People on the left and the right campaigned on this, and so now, there's enough public pressure from the American people that there's going to need to be action," she continued. (Manchester, 11/27)

FierceHealthcare: Drug Prices A Bipartisan Bright Spot Following Midterms, Experts Say
Although the results of the midterms signal a likely end to the uncertainty caused by partisan wrangling for the next couple of years, experts say there is room for Democrats and Republicans to make at least incremental changes ahead of the 2020 presidential race. Drug prices especially could offer an opportunity for legislators to reach across the aisle and pass some incremental measures, said Chris Jennings, founder and president of Jennings Policy Strategies. (Minemyer, 11/27)

Kaiser Health News: Chronically Ill, Traumatically Billed: The $123,000 Medicine For MS
Shereese Hickson’s multiple sclerosis was flaring again. Spasms in her legs and other symptoms were getting worse. She could still walk and take care of her son six years after doctors diagnosed the disease, which attacks the central nervous system. Earlier symptoms such as slurred speech and vision problems had resolved with treatment, but others lingered: she was tired and sometimes still fell. This summer, a doctor switched her to Ocrevus, a drug approved in 2017 that delayed progression of the disease in clinical trials better than an older medicine did. (Hancock, 11/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Gain More Access To China, But At A Price
China is approving foreign drugs at a record pace, opening the door to its lucrative market for the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, while also extracting big discounts. Regulators have greenlighted dozens of outside drugs for use in China over the past 21 months, some within a few weeks. The approvals follow a series of policy moves by China to provide its 1.4 billion people access to new, lifesaving drugs, especially those that treat cancer. (Rana and Roland, 11/27)

Stat: Pharma Reaches Tentative Deal With U.K. Over Pricing And Access
The U.K. government and the pharmaceutical industry have reached a tentative agreement to widen access to medicines and encourage innovation that involves spending caps on brand-name medicines and faster cost-effectiveness assessments, among other things. The voluntary deal calls for the National Health Service to adopt newer medicines faster for five unidentified therapeutic categories. (Silverman, 11/26)

FiercePharma: Pharma Caps U.K.’s Branded-Drug Spend Growth At 2% In Exchange For Faster Drug Launches
How much are pharma companies willing to pay in exchange for a faster trip to market in the U.K.? As it turns out, a cap of 2% on total branded-drug sales growth should do. And that’s a deal the industry is billing as a big savings for the government next year—$1.2 billion, to be exact. But there’s a catch: The 2% cap is actually higher than annual spending growth at the National Health Service over the past five years. (Liu, 11/26)

Stat: Roche And Novartis Lose Battle In Europe Over Off-Label Repackaged Drugs
In a setback for the pharmaceutical industry, a European Union court ruled that government health systems can cover the cost of a drug that has been repackaged for unapproved uses, a decision that appears to reflect concerns about the rising prices for medicines. At issue is a long-running drama over a prescription drug that is used to treat age-related macular degeneration and efforts by two large drug makers to maintain market share. In this instance, the European Court of Justice sided with Italian authorities, who sought to reimburse the cost of the Avastin cancer drug to treat the vision problem, a common disease among the elderly that can lead to blindness. (Silverman, 11/21)