Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS, Drugmakers Will Have More Time To Haggle Over Medicare Drug Prices
MSN: U.S. Government Extends Negotiation Timeline For Medicare Drug Price Cuts
The U.S. government has taken a step in its ongoing efforts to manage healthcare costs by extending the negotiation timeline for Medicare drug price cuts. This decision, announced on Wednesday, is part of a broader strategy to ensure that the process is both fair and effective. ... In response to feedback from both patients and drugmakers, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced changes to the negotiation process. These changes include meeting with companies earlier and providing more opportunities for counter offers. The agency will now engage with drugmakers before making its initial offer, and one of the three allotted negotiation meetings will occur before the deadline for the first counter offer. (Morales, 10/2)
KFF Health News: Harris Correct That Trump Fell Short On Promise To Negotiate Medicare Drug Prices
Since Vice President Kamala Harris entered the presidential race, she and former President Donald Trump have sparred over their approaches to lowering prescription drug costs. Harris has described this as an important campaign promise that Trump made but didn’t deliver on. “Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices,” Harris said during the ABC News debate on Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. “He never did. We did.” (Gardenswartz, 10/3)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Washington Post: Eli Lilly’s Weight-Loss Drug No Longer In Shortage, FDA Says
The two-year shortage of Eli Lilly’s blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs is over, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. Eli Lilly’s supply of Mounjaro, which is used to treat Type 2 diabetes, and popular weight-loss drug Zepbound, can now meet present and projected national demand, the FDA said in a statement. Both medications, which trigger the hormone GLP-1 and curb hunger, have been in shortage since 2022 as demand for weight-loss drugs has skyrocketed. (Ziegler and Gilbert, 10/2)
Reuters: Lilly To Invest $4.5 Bln On New Facility To Scale-Up Pipeline Drug Production
U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly said on Wednesday it will invest $4.5 billion to create a new center in Indiana that will focus on developing new ways to manufacture its drugs and increasing production of experimental medicines used in clinical studies. (10/2)
The New York Times: Officials Cast Doubt On A Dementia Drug, But Human Trials Continue
The S.E.C. alleged shortcomings in research said to support the drug, and its developer agreed to a $40 million settlement. Some experts wonder why clinical trials have not been stopped. (Rosenbluth, 10/2)
