Big Pharma Players Dug Deep In Their Wallets For Lobbying, Despite Staying Mostly Silent On Health Law

Stat: The Drug Industry’s Two Big Trade Groups Set A New Record For Lobbying In 2017
The two big groups that lobby on behalf of drug companies set a new record for their collective spending in the first year of the Trump administration. Shelling out a combined sum of nearly $35 million to lobby the federal government in 2017, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization upped their expenditures at a time when the sweeping tax overhaul was on the line and fears of a crackdown on drug pricing were top of mind. Remarkably, however, the record-setting spending push came in spite of the fact that neither group took a position on the biggest health policy story of the year, the long and steady Republican quest to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. (Robbins, 1/23)

The Hill: PhRMA Ups Lobbying By 30 Percent In Trump's First Year Of Presidency 
The pharmaceutical industry's top trade group responded to growing anger over rising drug costs in 2017 by upping its federal lobbying spending by 30 percent. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) increased its lobbying expenditures from $20 million in 2016 to $25.4 million in 2017. (Hellmann, 1/22)

CQ: Health Industry Groups Increased Lobbying In 2017
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $25.4 million on lobbying over the course of last year, $5 million more than what they spent in 2016. The American Medical Association closely followed the group, spending $20.9 million on lobbying efforts last year. Those two groups, along with the American Hospital Association which spent $17.5 million last year, were among the top 10 top spenders of advocacy groups last year. The AHA spent slightly less in 2017 than during the previous year, when it spent $18.8 million. (McIntire, 1/23)

Stat: FDA Policy Wades Into Battles Between Drug Makers And Compounders
Amid rising tension between drug makers and compound pharmacies, the Food and Drug Administration has issued new policies that seek to bolster manufacturing standards for compounded medicines and, in the process, may serve to establish competitive boundaries between these rival sets of companies. A key piece of the effort focuses on a contentious issue: compounded drugs that, essentially, may be copies of prescription medicines. The agency specifies that compounders should not copy FDA-approved drugs, except when shortages exist. (Silverman, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Drugmakers Pay Big Prices For Promising Biotechs
Big drugmakers, searching for new sources of revenue, are paying hefty premiums for biotechnology businesses, with two multibillion-dollar acquisitions announced Monday among the latest such deals.Sanofi SA agreed to pay $11.6 billion in cash, a 63% premium, to buy hemophilia-drug company Bioverativ Inc., confirming a Wall Street Journal report Sunday. (Rockoff, 1/22)

Stat: Did The Government Overpay For Hundreds Of Drugs? It's Complicated
It looked like the watchdog had found something big — in December 2017, a government report proclaimed that drug companies might have stiffed Medicaid over a billion dollars by pricing some generic drugs like brand-name drugs. The report didn’t name those companies, but Mylan, maker of EpiPen, landed in hot water for similar behavior the year before. In August 2017, the company paid a $465 million settlement, facilitated by the Department of Justice, and agreed to have its pricing practices reviewed in order to resolve claims that it overcharged Medicaid for EpiPen. (Swetlitz, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson Results Driven By Pharmaceutical Sales Growth
Johnson & Johnson sales rose in the fourth quarter, but the company reported a loss after taking a $13.6 billion charge as a result of the new U.S. tax law. J&J expects the new law to lower its effective tax rate by 1.5 to 2.5 percentage points from the current rate of 17.2%. Analysts said the positive impact probably figured in the company’s better-than-expected financial outlook for this year. (Rockoff and Prang, 1/23)

The New York Times: Sanofi, Facing Threat From Generics, Moves To Buy Hemophilia Drug Maker
The French drug maker Sanofi said on Monday that it had agreed to acquire Bioverativ, a biopharmaceutical company focused on treatments for hemophilia and other rare blood disorders, for $11.6 billion in cash. Sanofi has sought use acquisitions to bolster its portfolio of drugs, particularly because it faces declining sales for its diabetes drug, Lantus, which has lost its patent protection. According to the company, sales of Lantus declined more than 16 percent in the first nine months of last year, based on constant exchange rates, and rivals are moving to introduce generic versions of the treatment. (Bray, 1/22)

Bloomberg: Sanofi To Buy Biogen Hemophilia Spinoff For $11.6 Billion 
Sanofi SA agreed to buy Bioverativ Inc., a spinoff from biotech giant Biogen Inc., for about $11.6 billion in a bid by France’s biggest drugmaker to gain treatments for rare blood disorders. The deal values hemophilia drugmaker Bioverativ at $105 a share, according to a statement Monday from Sanofi. That’s a 64 percent premium over Friday’s closing price. Sanofi shares fell 2.6 percent to 71.05 euros at 9:18 a.m. in Paris trading. (Sutherland, Du and Paton, 1/21)

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Deals Fire Up As Drug Giants Face Price Pressure
The new year's healthcare deals began to snowball as Sanofi and Celgene Corp. scooped up assets that promise to offset pricing pressure for some of their top-selling drugs. ...The Monday activity sent the deals volume in U.S. biotechnology to its highest level since the third quarter of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Lauerman, 1/22)

Stat: Why Do Biopharma’s Elites Make The Annual Pilgrimage To Davos?
A who’s-who list of biopharma royalty is headed to the Swiss ski resort town of Davos for four days of hobnobbing this week with politicians, CEOs, and one-percenters from around the globe. There will be big names like Pfizer’s COO Albert Bourla, Novartis’s incoming CEO Vasant Narasimhan, Roche Chairman Christoph Franz, Illumina’s executive chairman Jay Flatley, and Medtronic’s CEO Omar Ishrak. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb will be there, as will the director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins. (Robbins, 1/22)

Modern Healthcare: Providers' Solution For High Drug Prices: Make Them Ourselves
Four not-for-profit health systems last week announced they were taking on big pharma by creating their own generic-drug company. But experts caution it'll take years of navigating red tape and substantial investment before the operation stands a chance at lowering drug prices and alleviating shortages—if it does at all. In fact, previous attempts have fallen short. "There are no new entrants to the market because it is so difficult to get into," said Michael Rea, CEO of Rx Savings Solutions, a company that sells software to health insurers and self-insured employers to help them lower their drug costs. "But having the capital source of hospitals is a great start—now they need to execute on the plan." (Kacik and Bannow, 1/20)

Kaiser Health News: States Face Costly Conundrum: How To Treat Inmates With Hepatitis C
In a corner of Jymie Jimerson's house in the town of Sparta, in southwest Missouri, she has set up a kind of shrine. It has Native American art representing her Cherokee heritage alongside Willie Nelson albums, books and photos in remembrance of her late husband. There's a copy of Willie's mid-'70s LP Red Headed Stranger. "When Steve was young, he had red hair and a red beard, so he always really identified with Willie's Red Headed Stranger," Jimerson says. "I try to keep it up there as a reminder of better days." (Smith, 1/19)

Stat: When The Well Runs Dry, Where Will Unicorns — And Biotech — Go?
Biotech is developing a unicorn problem .Drug developers have grown their horns thanks to a recent boom in venture capital, a virtuous cycle in which investors poured millions into months-old startups with the promise of lucrative initial public offerings or big-ticket buyouts. But for many, going public at a multibillion-dollar valuation just isn’t feasible in the short term. And returning to the well of venture capital would likely require selling new shares at a price below the last ones, a prospect investors dread. (Garde, 1/18)

The Associated Press: Health Coalition Pushes Ban On Brand-Name Drug Price Gouging
Brand-name medication and specialty drugs would be protected from price gouging under a proposal by a Maryland health care coalition. The Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition on Tuesday in Annapolis announced its intention to make prescription drugs more affordable, building off the success of a 2017 price gouging law.Last year, that law became the first in the nation to prohibit price gouging of generic and off-patent drugs. (Whooley, 1/16)

Stat: Roche And Novartis Lose A Key Battle Over Antitrust Fines In Italy
An arrangement between Roche (RHHBY) and Novartis (NVS) to channel demand to an expensive drug for treating a serious vision problem breached European Union competition rules, the E.U. Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday. And while this is not the final step in the litigation, the decision is likely to provide encouragement to European governments struggling to contain health care costs. (Silverman, 1/23)