Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Fecal Transplant War Pits Doctors And Pharma Against Each Other In Dirty Battle Over Future Of Treatment
The New York Times: Drug Companies And Doctors Battle Over The Future Of Fecal Transplants
There’s a new war raging in health care, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake and thousands of lives in the balance. The battle, pitting drug companies against doctors and patient advocates, is being fought over the unlikeliest of substances: human excrement. The clash is over the future of fecal microbiota transplants, or F.M.T., a revolutionary treatment that has proved remarkably effective in treating Clostridioides difficile, a debilitating bacterial infection that strikes 500,000 Americans a year and kills 30,000. (Jacobs, 3/3)
Modern Healthcare: Silver Health Insurance Plans Set Stiffer Cost-Sharing On Drugs
Two new studies show how health plans are jacking up patients' out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. The studies highlight some of the concerns raised during Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee hearing featuring the CEOs of seven major pharmaceutical manufacturers. Senators of both parties tore into the executives over their pricing practices, arguing that they have made drugs unaffordable for many Americans. But the CEOs blamed insurers and pharmacy benefit managers for some of the problems. (Meyer, 3/1)
Kaiser Health News: Big Pharma Gave Money To Patient Advocacy Groups Opposing Medicare Changes
Dozens of patient advocacy groups, like the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, recently appeared in national advertisements objecting to a Trump administration proposal that could limit drugs covered by Medicare providers. But a Kaiser Health News analysis found that about half of the groups representing patients have received funding from the pharmaceutical industry. (Lupkin, Lucas and Knight, 3/4)
Stat: Novartis Agrees To Pay $23M Following Charges It Used Charities To Pay Kickbacks To Medicare Patients
You can add Novartis (NVS) to the list of drug makers settling allegations that donations made to patient charities amounted to kickbacks paid to Medicare patients as a way to cover their out-of-pocket costs. The company reached an agreement in principle to pay $23 million in response to a probe opened three years ago by the U.S. Attorney in Boston regarding assistance provided to Medicare patients who were prescribed various medicines, including the Gleevec cancer medicine and the Gilenya multiple sclerosis treatment, according to its latest annual report. The settlement was not previously disclosed. (Silverman, 3/1)
Kaiser Health News: Watch: Big Week For Drug Pricing Debate Featured On C-SPAN
KHN correspondent Emmarie Huetteman appeared on the C-SPAN program “Washington Journal,” where she fielded viewers’ calls about high drug prices and industry criticism. Earlier in the week, the Senate Finance Committee grilled executives from seven major drugmakers on Tuesday about drug prices. You can read KHN’s story about that hearing here. (3/1)
