Lawmakers Want To Reduce Medical Waste That Accounts For Billions A Year In Spending
A recent ProPublica report shows how drug companies force patients to pay for expensive liquid medications, such as eyedrops and cancer drugs, which are produced or packaged in ways that lead to waste. The lawmakers' bill would task federal agencies with creating a plan to reduce that.
ProPublica:
Senators Introduce Bill to Reduce ‘Colossal and Completely Preventable Waste’
Two U.S. senators introduced legislation Tuesday requiring federal agencies to come up with solutions to the waste caused by oversized eyedrops and single-use drug vials, citing a ProPublica story published earlier this month. The bipartisan effort by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, calls for the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to come up with a plan to reduce the waste, which is estimated to cost billions of dollars a year. (Allen, 11/1)
Stat:
Waste Not, Want Not: Bill Tries To Cut Drug Makers' Waste
The move follows various reports that large quantities of different types of medicines — from expensive cancer treatments to pricey eye drops — are wasted each year because of packaging. An analysis published last year, for instance, estimated that $2.8 billion is wasted each year by government and private insurers on cancer meds, which are typically injected or infused in doctor’s offices and hospitals based on a patient’s weight. However, the drugs are packaged in uniform-sized vials, which often generate leftover medicine that must be discarded due to safety standards. (Silverman, 11/1)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Wall Street Journal:
Ballot Measure To Cap Ohio Drug Prices Unleashes Expensive Ad Battle
One of the fiercest battles yet over high drug prices is playing out in Ohio, where an approaching ballot referendum on price caps has unleashed tens of millions of dollars of television advertising and sharp rhetoric on both sides of the issue. The Nov. 7 ballot measure would require state government entities, including the Medicaid health-insurance program for low-income people, to pay no more for prescription drugs than what the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pays for veterans. Under federal law, the VA buys drugs at a mandatory 24% discount to regular prices, and negotiates additional discounts with manufacturers. (Loftus, 11/1)
Bloomberg:
EpiPen Failures Cited In Seven Deaths This Year, FDA Files Show
EpiPens, which contain the hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline), are used to stave off allergic reactions that can in some cases kill. Failure of EpiPens to deploy correctly have been cited in seven deaths this year through mid-September, according to reports by patients and physicians made to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and obtained by Bloomberg News. The FDA received a total of 228 reports of EpiPen or EpiPen Jr. failures during the same time period, according to documents made available as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request. In addition to the deaths, 35 people were hospitalized, according to the reports. (Edney, 11/2)
