Are Most People Really Paying A Lot For Drugs Every Month? No, But The Ones Who Do, Face Sky-High Bills.

Stat: Most People Pay $5 Per Month Or Less For The Drug. But Some Pay $11,002
“Most* patients pay between $0 and $5 per month” for Janssen’s drug Stelara, the chart proclaims. But, boy, does that asterisk contain quite the caveat. Way down at the other end of the graphic, any patient paying the list price is shelling out a whopping $11,002 every month for the same drug. The jarring figure comes from a new Janssen website launched recently as part of the broader pharmaceutical industry’s push to disclose some pricing information in its television ads. (Florko, 4/17)

The New York Times: Medicare Aims To Expand Coverage Of Cancer Care. But Is It Enough?
In a major test case, Medicare is poised to cover a promising but expensive new type of cancer treatment, with significant restrictions meant to hold down the cost. Cancer patients, doctors and drug companies are urging the Trump administration to remove the restrictions and broaden coverage so more patients can benefit from the treatment, known as CAR T cell therapy, or CAR-T. But insurance companies are pushing for the restrictions. (Pear, 4/13)

Stat: Database That Reveals Industry Payments To Doctors Causes Patient Mistrust
A survey of almost 1,400 adults found a nearly 3% decline in trust among individuals after learning about the Open Payments database — regardless of whether they knew their own doctors had received payments from industry — and lower overall trust in the medical profession. Moreover, their trust in their doctors fell even though just 13% knew payment information was publicly available, according to earlier findings from the same survey. (Silverman, 4/15)

NPR: Why Astronomical Drug Prices Are Bad For Health — And Profits
The price of pharmaceuticals around the world can vary dramatically depending on who's paying for the drugs and where those patients happen to live. Take the pneumonia vaccine. Doctors Without Borders just struck a deal on it for refugee children in Greece. The aid group will pay $9 per immunization for a drug with a list price of $540. In local Greek pharmacies, the vaccine costs $168. France pays $189 for the inoculation while the far less wealthy nation of Lebanon pays $243 for it, according to the group. In India you can get it for roughly $60. (Beaubien, 4/12)

Stat: Judge Slams Justice Department Bid To Dismiss A Nurse Educator Lawsuit
A federal judge rebuked the U.S. Department of Justice in its bid to dismiss nearly a dozen lawsuits alleging drug makers devised schemes in which nurses were used illegally to promote their medicines and boost prescriptions, an arrangement that purportedly violated federal kickback laws. The decision is a setback to the federal government as it attempts to implement a new policy for dismissing whistleblower lawsuits when declining to intervene, or join the case. A Justice Department memo issued last year directed its attorneys to consider moving to dismiss lawsuits if they appear deficient or following an investigation of claims made by the whistleblower. (Silverman, 4/16)

Stat: A First-Of-Its-Kind Law In Tennessee Limits Lawyers’ Ads Seeking To Sue Drug Makers
A first-of-its-kind law was adopted last week in Tennessee that seeks to prevent lawyers from running deceptive ads as they go about soliciting consumers who may have been harmed by a prescription medicine or medical device. The law, which takes effect in July, does not prohibit such advertising altogether, but does ban ads that contain language suggesting they are medical warnings or health alerts, or fail to disclose information stating the ad was paid for by a lawyer, among other things. Ads are also not allowed to display the logo of a government agency, such as the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 4/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Catalent To Buy Paragon Bioservices For $1.2 Billion
Contract drug manufacturer Catalent Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire Paragon Bioservices Inc. for in $1.2 billion in cash, to help expand its gene-therapy manufacturing capabilities. Paragon provides supplies for gene-therapy drugmakers, manufacturing the so-called viral vectors that are used to deliver the gene replacements to their targets. It is backed by private-equity firms Camden Partners and NewSpring Capital. (Chin and Hopkins, 4/15)

Stat: The Bristol-Celgene Merger Is Approved. Here Are 8 Challenges Ahead
After months of horse-trading, hand-wringing, and heated debate, the $74 billion merger of Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene was finally approved by shareholders on Friday. “We’re very excited about the new company,” Giovanni Caforio, Bristol’s chairman and CEO, said at the meeting. ...Here’s a look at the biggest issues facing Bristol-Myers and Celgene after their long-awaited union. (Garde and Feuerstein, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Roche Raises Forecasts After Sales Beat
Roche Holding has raised its outlook for the year after reporting strong sales growth in the first quarter.The Swiss healthcare giant said Wednesday that it now expects sales and core earnings per share to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2019, at constant currencies. It had previously expected growth in the low-to-mid single-digit range. Sales for the three months to March 31 rose 9% to 14.83 billion Swiss francs ($14.73 billion), beating analysts’ expectations of CHF14.23 billion--a consensus estimate compiled by FactSet. Accounting for currency fluctuations, sales increased 8%. (Mancini and Rolandi, 4/17)

Reuters: Swiss Drugmaker Roche Ups Outlook As Sales Growth Offsets Price Hit
Swiss drugmaker Roche lifted its 2019 outlook on Wednesday, as sales growth in China and the United States outpaced price declines it has suffered amid President Donald Trump's pressure on the industry to hold down charges. Roche, the world's biggest cancer drug maker, now sees mid single-digit revenue growth, up from the previous forecast of low- to mid-single digit growth. It sees core earnings per share mirroring sales growth. (Miller, 4/17)

Maine Public: Committee Takes Up Bills Aimed At Lowering Maine Prescription Drug Prices
The state’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee heard three bills Tuesday intended to help address the rising cost of prescription drugs in Maine. Two of those bills seek to regulate pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, who work with pharmacies and drug companies to determine which drugs are covered and how much they cost consumers. (Flaherty, 4/16)

The Daily Herald: Underwood Gets To Work On Prescription Drug Cost Relief
Constituents don't call congresswoman Lauren Underwood's West Chicago office to ask what she's doing to get the Mueller report released. They call because their prescription drugs cost so much, they end up in the emergency room when they can't afford to fill their prescriptions and see their doctors until they meet their deductibles. Underwood told constituents at a town hall in Warrenville this week she wants to see the full, unedited Mueller report, but her primary focus is delivering on campaign promises. As a nurse, she believes her constituents elected her, in part, to use her expertise to make a positive impact on health care. She's targeting sustainable, lower prescription drug prices with her early policy efforts. (Fuller, 4/16)

Masslive: High Prescription Drug Prices Drawing Scrutiny On Beacon Hill
Mary Mack, of Nantucket, has advanced heart failure and muscular dystrophy due to a genetic defect. In 2015, a new drug, Entresto, came on the market, and Mack’s doctor prescribed it. Mack said the drug “made a significant difference.”“I could walk up a flight of stairs without losing my breath,” she said.But the copay was $150 a month, and after five months it went up to $225. (Schoenberg, 4/11)