Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alex Azar Is Just Latest In List Of People Tied To Industry Filling Trump's Top Health Spots
Stat: He Rails Against The Drug Industry. But Trump Is Turning To Its Ranks To Fill His Administration
President Trump has vilified the pharmaceutical industry and made bold promises to lower prescription drug prices. But when it comes to staffing the health care agencies empowered to oversee those efforts, he has turned regularly to the pharmaceutical industry. His Food and Drug Administration chief, Scott Gottlieb, was a longtime industry investor and adviser to major players like GlaxoSmithKline and Bristol-Myers Squibb. A senior adviser at the Health and Human Services Department, Keagan Lenihan, joined the administration after running the lobby shop for the drug and distribution giant McKesson. And Trump has a former Gilead lobbyist, Joe Grogan, reviewing health care regulations at the Office of Management and Budget. The chief of staff at HHS, Lance Leggitt, lobbied for a whole host of drug clients, even last year. (Mershon, 11/16)
Bloomberg: Trump White House Logs Document Drug Industry Visitors, Meetings
Drug company executives were among the many visitors to the White House complex this year, according to visitor logs published Tuesday by ProPublica after a nonprofit transparency group, Property of the People, successfully sued the Trump administration to release the records. (Chen, 11/21)
Stat: Trump Proposal To Lower Drug Prices Targets Insurer, PBM Rebates
The Trump administration is exploring policy changes that could eventually lower the prices Medicare beneficiaries pay at the pharmacy counter. Although it’s only a small, initial step in that direction, it’s one of the first signals of how the Trump administration is trying to deliver on the president’s promises to lower prescription drug prices. (Mershon, 11/17)
Stateline: Why It’s Hard To Control Drug Prices At The Ballot Box
Just 9 percent of Americans think pharmaceutical companies put patients’ interests above their own profits, according to a Harris poll published earlier this year. That dismal finding, which mirrors other recent polling, would seem to have boded well for a ballot initiative in Ohio intended to limit the amount the state pays drugmakers for prescription medicines. (Ollove, 11/22)
Bloomberg: How To Avoid A Disastrous Gene-Therapy Price Battle
Drugs that modify human genes have the potential to cure intractable diseases with just one treatment. Few could disagree that's a good thing. But if these same drugs cost $1 million or more a pop, then the disagreements begin. (Nisen, 11/17)
Health News Florida: Their Only Option: Clinic Helps Patients Get $90,000 Hep C Cure
So far, Gilead has not turned down any of the roughly 100 patients who have applied through the Bradenton clinic over the past two years. By comparison, records show Medicaid had covered the Harvoni treatment for only 72 patients statewide between the fall of 2015 and June of this year. (Ochoa, 11/16)
Kaiser Health News: Massachusetts Grabs Spotlight By Proposing New Twist On Medicaid Drug Coverage
In the absence of new federal policies to tame break-the-bank drug prices, Massachusetts’ state Medicaid program hopes to road-test an idea both radical and market-driven. It wants the power to negotiate discounts for the drugs it purchases and to exclude drugs with limited treatment value. “This is a serious demonstration proposal,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy expert and professor at George Washington University. “They’re not simply using [this idea] as an excuse to cut Medicaid. They’re trying to take a step toward efficiency.” (Luthra, 11/21)
Stat: In Wake Of Shortages, Lawmakers Are Urged To Force Pharma To Disclose Manufacturing Info
In the wake of shortages caused by Hurricane Maria, half a dozen groups that represent hospitals, doctors, and pharmacists are urging Congress to examine the lack of information provided by drug makers about product supplies. The storm has caused shortages of various medicines — notably, solutions such as saline — but the extent to which manufacturing for many other drugs has been disrupted remains unclear. That’s because federal and state laws do not require companies to disclose which products are made at which plants. (Silverman, 11/20)
Wall Street Journal: Eli Lilly Bets Big On Insulin-Delivery Devices
Eli Lilly & Co., one of the biggest makers of insulin, has been planning a risky new business venture: making the high-tech devices that deliver insulin to diabetes patients. In a research laboratory Lilly opened here in 2015, scientists have been developing a wearable, automated insulin-delivery device designed to reduce the decision-making and guesswork of conventional insulin injections. They are also developing a “smart pen” injection device that can wirelessly transmit dosing information to a patient’s phone, to ensure proper dosing. (Loftus, 11/21)
Healthline: Competition Doesn't Slow Cancer Drug Price Increases
Cancer drug prices seem to defy the laws of economics. They steadily increase regardless of competition, a new study concluded. An international team of researchers tracked the average monthly sale prices of 24 injectable anticancer drugs, using price data from the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They took into account factors such as rebates and discounts. (Curley, 11/20)
Stat: Not A Dutch Treat: Drug Prices Prompt Debate Over ‘Last Resort’ Options In Amsterdam
For the second time this week, the Netherlands will gain the attention of the pharmaceutical industry, but the latest developments may not please many drug makers. One day after Amsterdam was chosen as the next home of the European Medicines Agency, the government is readying debate over its pharmaceutical policies, but the session may be hijacked by concerns over high prices and the overall influence of drug makers, according to reports. (Silverman, 11/21)
Stat: Roche Reshuffles Lung Cancer Immunotherapy Market With Positive Clinical Trial Results
With positive results from a closely watched clinical trial announced Monday, Roche (RHHBY) is on the cusp of joining Merck (MRK) in owning an immunotherapy combination proven effective for patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer. In the so-called IMpower 150 study, Roche’s checkpoint inhibitor Tecentriq combined with Avastin and chemotherapy demonstrated a “statistically significant and clinically meaningful” reduction in disease worsening compared to Avastin and chemotherapy alone in patients with newly diagnosed non-small cell lung cancer, the Swiss pharma giant announced. (Feuerstein, 11/20)
The Telegraph: Canadian Drugs Firm Accused Of Overcharging NHS By Hiking Price Of Life-Changing Medicine By 6,000%
A Canadian drugs firm has been accused of abusing its dominant market position in the UK to jack up the price of a thyroid drug relied on by thousands of patients by 6,000pc. The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) said Concordia overcharged the NHS by tens of millions of pounds through its actions, in a provisional ruling published today. (Withers, 11/21)
Reuters: Britain Says Canada's Concordia Overcharging Health Service For Thyroid Drug
Drug company Concordia overcharged Britain's health service millions of pounds for an essential thyroid drug by abusing its position as the only supplier, the country's Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday. The National Health Service spent 34 million pounds on liothyronine tablets last year, up from 600,000 pounds a decade ago, after Concordia increased the price per pack by almost 6,000 percent from 4.46 pounds to 258.19 pounds. (Sandle, 11/21)
FiercePharma: Concordia Catches Antitrust Scrutiny Over 5,700% Price Rise For Thyroid Drug
In the U.K., the CMA asserted that the National Health Service paid £258 per pack of Concordia's liothyonine as of July 2017, up from about £4.46 per pack in 2016 at a time when the company's production costs didn't appreciably increase. The health system's spending on the drug rose to more than £34 million last year from just £600,000 in 2006, the agency said. "Pharmaceutical companies which abuse their position and overcharge for drugs are forcing the NHS—and the U.K. taxpayer—to pay over the odds for important medical treatments," CMA chief Andrea Coscelli said in a Tuesday statement. "We allege that Concordia used its market dominance in the supply of liothyronine tablets to do exactly that." (Staton, 11/21)
Kaiser Health News: FDA Raids Florida Stores That Consumers Use To Buy Drugs From Canada
The Food and Drug Administration last month sent criminal investigation agents with search warrants into nine storefronts across Central Florida that help customers order drugs from pharmacies in Canada and overseas at big discounts. The agents notified the store owners that importing drugs from foreign countries is illegal and that those helping to “administer” such medicines could face fines or jail time. (Galewitz, 11/20)
