Spiking Insulin Prices Bring Out The Fire In Lawmakers At Third High-Profile Drug Cost Hearing In Recent Weeks
The House hearing came a day after a Senate one where pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who have shouldered much of the blame for high drug prices recently, emerged largely unscathed after facing lawmakers. But at Wednesday's hearing, the anticipated anger was unleashed on insulin drugmakers. “I don’t know how you people sleep at night,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said to both the PBMs and the insulin makers. “You’re in trouble … if you think you can just out talk us without any transparency, without any accountability, I just want you to know your days are numbered.” The drugmakers defended themselves by blaming "the system" and things like expected rebates for the high list prices. Meanwhile, some companies have been making moves to offer insulin to patients at cheaper costs, but lawmakers say it shouldn't take bad press to get them to take action.
The New York Times:
Lawmakers In Both Parties Vow To Rein In Insulin Costs
Members of Congress from both parties expressed immense frustration on Wednesday at big increases in insulin prices and vowed to work together on legislation to prevent more people from dying because they could not afford the lifesaving medicine. Representative Earl L. Carter, Republican of Georgia, said at the end of a three-hour hearing with pharmaceutical executives and middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, “You’ve done something here today that we’ve been trying to do in Congress for years, and that is to create bipartisanship.” (Pear, 4/10)
Stat:
‘I Don’t Know How You People Sleep At Night’: Visibly Irate Lawmakers Blast Pharma, PBMs Over Insulin Prices
Drug makers and their middlemen counterparts spent the first three months of the 116th Congress successfully dodging hard blows from members of Congress over the high cost of prescription drugs. That all changed Wednesday. Insulin makers and drug industry middlemen faced hours of hard questions Wednesday from an irate panel of lawmakers, many of whom appeared far more interested in threatening to blow up the entire drug pricing system than in hearing from the pharma company or pharmacy benefit manager executives who testified. (Florko, 4/10)
Kaiser Health News:
The Blame Game: Everyone And No One Is Raising Insulin Prices
The three drug manufacturers that make insulin — Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi — joined three pharmacy benefit managers — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts and OptumRx — to testify before the Oversight and Investigations panel at its second hearing probing the corporate maneuvers behind the skyrocketing costs. Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are the go-between companies that negotiate with drugmakers on which medicines will make insurance plans’ lists of covered drugs and how much insurers’ plans will pay for them. (Bluth, 4/10)
Modern Healthcare:
High Insulin Costs Targeted By Lawmakers At House Hearing
Energy and Commerce Chair Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) told manufacturers his constituents are asking him to set list prices and demanded justification for why Congress shouldn't follow that path. Pallone will wield considerable influence in the forthcoming package to lower pharmaceutical costs. "They don't even believe in the market-based system anymore," the chairman told executives of Eli Lilly and Co., Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, CVS Health, Express Scripts and OptumRx. (Luthi, 4/10)
CQ:
Insulin Makers And Middlemen Companies Square Off Over Prices
Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said the system was filled with “perverse payment incentives and a complete lack of transparency in pricing.” When DeGette asked the witnesses to explain why list prices are so high, she got two sets of answers. The drugmakers said the rebates, discounts and other fees they must pay to the benefit managers to get their products covered represent more than two-thirds of their list prices. (Siddons, 4/10)
Stat:
Before House Hearing, Sanofi Cuts Insulin Prices For Some Patients
Just hours before one of its executives is set to testify at a Congressional hearing to review insulin pricing, Sanofi (SNY) on Wednesday offered a program that will lower the cost of the diabetes treatment to $99 a month for uninsured patients and others who pay cash in the U.S. Under the plan, the drug maker maintained patients can buy up to 10 boxes of insulin pens or vials with a valid prescription, beginning in June, and expands a program that began a year ago in which patients were paying $99 for each vial of insulin and $149 for each pack of insulin pens. (Silverman, 4/10)
Reuters:
Sanofi To Cut U.S. Insulin Costs For Some Patients To $99 Per Month
The price of other manufacturers' leading insulin products is $178 to $300 per vial and $235 to $563 per pack of pens, according to Sanofi. The move is an expansion of Sanofi's "Insulin Valyou Savings Program" launched last year and represents a significant savings for patients already enrolled who had been paying $99 for each vial of insulin and $149 for each pack of insulin pens. "When you hear us say in our testimony in the hearing tomorrow that it is heartbreaking and no one should have to go without insulin, we mean it," Michelle Carnahan, Head of North America primary care at Sanofi, said in an interview on Tuesday. (Erman, 4/10)
Bloomberg:
Discount Insulin Offer Has Congress Asking What Took So Long
Decisions by two of the world’s biggest insulin producers to offer bigger discounts on drugs used by millions of diabetics are raising questions from Congress about whether the companies could have done so sooner. On Wednesday, French drugmaker Sanofi said it would increase discounts on insulin for some patients. The move follows recent efforts by Cigna Corp., which runs a major drug plan, and Eli Lilly & Co., another major insulin producer, to lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs for the drugs. (Koons and Edney, 4/10)
The Associated Press:
Insulin Too Pricey? Some Options To Cut Costs For Diabetics
The skyrocketing price of insulin has some diabetics scrambling to cover the cost of the life-saving medication. Others are skipping doses or using smaller amounts than needed, and sometimes landing in the emergency room, patients and advocates told Congress recently. About 7.4 million Americans use insulin to keep their blood sugar at safe levels. Insulin needs vary by patient, as do costs depending on insurance coverage. (Johnson, 4/10)
