Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
AbbVie Secures Tariff Exemption With Deal To Lower Drug Costs, Invest In US
Bloomberg: AbbVie Pledges $100 Billion US Investment To Avoid Tariffs
AbbVie Inc. signed an agreement with the US government to lower some drug prices and invest $100 billion domestically in exchange for an exemption from certain tariffs. The Trump administration has been using the threat of heavy tariffs to convince major drugmakers to increase their presence in the US, provide drugs more cheaply to Medicaid, sell less expensive drugs directly to patients and set prices abroad at least as high as in the US. AbbVie’s agreement “addresses” all four of these, the company said in a press release Monday. (Swetlitz, 1/13)
Related news on FDA vouchers —
Bloomberg: Pfizer Talking To Trump Administration About Priority Vouchers
Pfizer Inc. is looking to join its rivals in getting priority review vouchers, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said, after several drugmakers received the express passes after striking deals with the White House on pricing. The national priority voucher program was designed to support US interests and speed reviews for companies that are working with the administration on critical health goals. (Muller, 1/12)
Stat: FDA Veteran Pazdur Warns That Politics, ‘Chaos’ Are Hurting Agency
Richard Pazdur, a veteran regulator at the Food and Drug Administration who left the agency last month, said Monday the firewall between political appointees and drug reviewers at the agency “has been breached,” and that there is not enough transparency around a new voucher program that grants accelerated review to certain drugs selected by Trump administration officials. (Chen, 1/13)
More on the high cost of prescription drugs —
Fierce Healthcare: HHS Appears Ready To Pull Appeal Of 340B Rebate Pilot Pause
The Department of Health and Human Services appears willing to take its contentious 340B Rebate Model Pilot Model back to the drawing board. After a lawsuit filed by hospitals secured a last-minute halt from a district court, that was later upheld by a three-judge panel, the federal government penned a letter informing the appellate court that it is speaking with the plaintiff hospital groups about whether the fall's green light for participating drugmakers should be "reconsidered." (Muoio, 1/12)
Becker's Hospital Review: Hospital Groups Push CMS To Revise Drug Cost Survey
Eight national hospital associations are urging CMS to revise a statement in its drug acquisition cost survey, saying the language in one of its frequently asked questions misleadingly implies hospitals are required to respond. In a Jan. 12 letter, the groups said it is “wrong to tell hospitals and health systems that they ‘are to’ complete” the Outpatient Prospective Payment System Drug Acquisition Cost Survey. The FAQ states that “all such hospitals are to respond to the survey,” referring to facilities paid under OPPS between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. (Jeffries, 1/12)
San Francisco Chronicle: California Medi-Cal Halts GLP-1 Obesity Drug Coverage
Many low-income Californians prescribed wildly popular weight loss drugs lost their coverage for the medications at the start of the new year. Health officials are recommending diet and exercise as alternatives to heavily advertised weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound, advice experts say is unrealistic. (Thompson, 1/12)
The New York Times: David Mitchell, Who Led Fight On Drug Prices, Dies At 75
David Mitchell, a public relations executive who, after receiving a cancer diagnosis in 2010, set aside plans to retire and instead became one of the country’s leading voices in the campaign to lower prescription drug prices, died on Jan. 2 at his home in Annapolis, Md. He was 75. His family said in a statement that the cause was multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer he had kept at bay for 15 years. (Risen, 1/12)
On ACA subsidies —
Modern Healthcare: ACA Open Enrollment For 2026 Lags Behind 2025 Sign-Ups: CMS
Health insurance exchange enrollment is trending downward compared with a year ago, according to preliminary data the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released Monday. Nearly 22.8 million people — including 2.8 million new enrollees — had signed up with about two weeks to go, down 3.5% from a comparable period a year ago. This total reflects enrollments on the federal platform as of Jan. 3, on most state-based exchanges as of Dec. 27 and on Your Health Idaho as of its final deadline on Dec. 15. (Tepper, 1/12)
Axios: Scoop: Democrats Make Health Deal Offer With ACA Subsidies
Democrats sent Republicans a proposal over the weekend to renew enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years, paired with extensions of other expiring health programs, sources said. Sunday's offer shows there's increasing bipartisan sentiment to address long-stalled priorities like overhauling pharmacy benefit manager business practices — even if prospects for the ACA subsidies are much murkier. (Sullivan, 1/12)
