Group Proposes 11 Things States Can Do To Curb High Drug Prices

Stat: Treat Pharma As A Utility, And 10 Other Ways States Can Lower Drug Prices
As prescription drug costs continue to squeeze state budgets, a group of state health policy makers is offering some novel — and also some familiar — suggestions for coping. These include regulating the pharmaceutical industry as a utility, allowing states to operate as pharmacy benefit managers and waiving some provisions of the Medicaid program. In a paper released on Tuesday, the National Academy for State Health Policy also recommends that states pursue laws that require more transparency from drug makers. (Silverman, 10/18)

USA Today: Generic Drugs Saved $230 Billion In 2015, But Some Prices Rise Too
Generic drugs have not been immune from some of the big price hikes their brand name counterparts have, but a report to be released Wednesday shows generic costs are still declining overall even as more are sold. Last year, generic drugs made up 88% of prescriptions filled and 28% of total drug spending.  This year, the percent of prescriptions increased to 89% while the percent of overall spending dropped to 27%, according to the report by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association. (O'Donnell, 10/18)

Marketplace: Data Shows Drug Prices Spiked Seven Percent Last Year
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released new inflation numbers today. Turns out consumer goods are about 1.5 percent more expensive today than they were last fall. It’s the usual culprits — gas, housing. But deep among the data was a figure which grabbed our attention. Prescription drugs have gone up 7 percent since last year — the highest annual increase since 1992. (Gornstein, 10/18)

The Fiscal Times: The Most Expensive Prescription Drugs In America 
More than three-quarters of Americans now say that prescription drug costs are unreasonable, and most support regulatory changes aimed at controlling drug price hikes and increasing transparency around how pharmaceutical firms set prices, according to a recent poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Americans spent an average of $858 per person on prescription drugs in 2013, according to the most recent data from the Organisation for Economic Development, a figure that has likely gone up since then given recent trends in medical expenditures. That’s more than twice the average amount spent per capita in 19 other industrialized nations included in the report. (Braverman, 10/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson Brushes Off Looming Biosimilar Competition, Posts Solid Results
Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday sought to reassure investors and analysts that lower-priced competition for one of its top-selling products won’t slow a company that posted slightly better-than-expected results in the third quarter. The health-products company said world-wide sales in the quarter grew by 4.2%, to $17.8 billion. The company reported profit of $4.27 billion, or $1.53 a share, up from $3.36 billion, or $1.20 a share, in the same period a year ago. (Rockoff and Steele, 10/18)

FiercePharma: Clinton Campaign's 'War With Pharma!!' Went Official With Last Year's Stock-Busting Tweet: WikiLeaks
When a single tweet from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent biopharma shares tumbling last fall, her campaign staff reacted with glee. Soon after, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cheered Clinton on, too. Industry watchers know what’s happened since--Clinton has rolled out a series of proposals to control drug prices, and one of her follow-up tweets in August triggered another selloff in biotech shares. Now, thanks to WikiLeaks, we know some of the behind-the-scenes chatter in the Clinton campaign as her pharma-pricing crusade began. (Staton, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Sanders’ Tweet On Drugmaker Ariad’s ‘Greed’ Sends Stock Plunging
A 114-character tweet from Senator Bernie Sanders’ twitter account cost Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. investors as much as $387 million on Friday afternoon. “Drug corporations’ greed is unbelievable. Ariad has raised the price of a leukemia drug to almost $199,000 a year,” said the tweet, linking to an article about the drugmaker written by Stat News. The shares slumped as much as 15 percent, the biggest intraday decline in more than a year, and traded down 12 percent to $11.51 at 2:52 p.m. in New York. (Bloomfield, 10/14)

FiercePharma: Sanders Rallies For California Drug Pricing Crackdown That Pharma's Eager To Defeat
While many pharma watchers are closely focused on the headlining presidential race this election season, a vote coming in California poses a big risk to the industry.Despised by drugmakers, the referendum is getting big-name backing from former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who blasted pharmas at a series of rallies this weekend.California’s Proposition 61 would require that the state buy its prescription drugs at a price no higher than that charged by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That would be a big hit to pharma, because California is the nation's most populous state. (Sagonowsky, 10/17)

FiercePharma: Valeant Defends Its Latest Round Of Price Increases -- But Critics Aren't Buying It
Valeant said, its overall pricing moves across its pharma portfolio “represent an increase of less than 2.0%” within the calendar year and on a forward-looking, annualized basis “are in line with the 2016 Consumer Price Index of 2.3%. ”Not everyone’s buying it, though. “While the company seems to us to be trying to position this as some sort of modest increase, we note that these price increases come on top of excessive price increases taken in previous years,” Wells Fargo analyst David Maris wrote in a note to clients. “We do not think a company that raises the price on a product by 50% one year and then commits to mid-single digits the following year is somehow not relying on a price-driven strategy.” (Helfand, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Valeant Cuts Ties With Pharmacy That Distributed Antidepressant
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is ending its relationship with a mail-order pharmacy helped sell one of several older drugs it has acquired and raised prices on. The pharmacy, Direct Success Inc., was used by Valeant to distribute the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL. Valeant, in a statement, confirmed the end of the relationship, although it said the pharmacy only handled about 5 percent of the sales of the product last year. The change was first noted by David Maris, an analyst with Wells Fargo & Co. (Hopkins, 10/17)

Stat: Drug Maker Fined For Shorting Supplies Of Cancer Drugs In Order To Raise Prices
Italian antitrust authorities last Friday fined Aspen Pharmacare, a large drug maker based in South Africa, nearly $5.5 million for halting supplies of several cancer drugs as a negotiating tactic designed to boost prices by as much as 1,500 percent. (Silverman, 10/17)

Stat: Doctors Without Borders Chastises Pfizer For Refusing To Lower Vaccine Price
In a pointed rebuke to Pfizer, Doctors Without Borders has rejected an offer by the big drug maker to donate 1 million doses of a pneumonia vaccine because such a move might “undermine long-term efforts” to increase access for people in poor countries. Instead, the organization pushed once again for Pfizer to lower its price. (Silverman, 10/13)

NPR: West Virginia Grapples With High Drug Costs
Skyrocketing prices for essential medicines like the EpiPen, are generating public outcry, congressional hearings and political promises for policy fixes. In the meantime, the increases continue to hit pocketbooks — even of people who don't rely on these expensive drugs. In a state like West Virginia, where dire budget shortfalls have been a problem over the last few years, the problem is especially pronounced. (Lofton, 10/15)

Stat: HHS Is Urged To Allow A Drug Maker To Export Cheap Versions Of Pricey Cancer Med
More than 50 advocacy organizations are urging the federal government to allow a small Canadian company to make a generic version of a cancer medicine and sell it to poor countries. In a Oct. 17 letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the groups argue that the company, Biolyse, should be allowed to sell a version of the Xtandi prostate cancer treatment to low- and middle-income countries because federally funded research was used to create the drug. In their view, the government holds a royalty-free license and can allow a third party to then market a generic. (Silverman, 10/17)

CBS News: The Pain Of Higher Drug Prices - 7 Biggest Price Hikes For Medicare's Costliest Drugs
Ask any American about the price of prescription medications, and many will either have a story about their own rapidly rising drug costs or those suffered by friends and family members. About eight out 10 Americans say prescription drug costs are unreasonable, up from roughly seven out of 10 a year ago, according to a recent poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. On top of that, consumers also support measures to keep costs down, ranging from allowing the federal government to negotiate drug prices to placing caps on annual price hikes. (Picchi, 10/13)

Modern Healthcare: Cuban Pharmaceutical Imports To U.S. Could Lead To Lower Drug Prices
Industry experts say the Obama administration's decision to lift a ban on importing Cuban pharmaceuticals and collaborating with the nation's researchers could bring the nation's cheaper, reputable medicines to the U.S. if they're approved by the Food and Drug Administration. (Rubenfire, 10/17)

Stat: Insurers Pay More For Multiple Sclerosis Drug Because Rebates Don't Help
Drug makers may offer rebates to payers, but health plans continue to see notable increases in costs for prescription medicines, according to a report by the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. And this has been especially true for one particularly costly group of medicines used to treat multiple sclerosis. (Silverman, 10/13)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Group Looks At Ways To Rein In Pa.'s Prescription Drug Costs
No one this side of Medicare struggles with prescription drug costs more than state governments. On Tuesday, a group of state health policy experts gathered in Pittsburgh offered wide-ranging options for throttling those costs — from options as simple as bulk purchasing of drugs to something as dramatic as regulating the pharmaceutical industry as if it were a public utility. (Twedt, 10/19)