Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Maryland Wants Supreme Court To Review Ruling That Knocked Down State's Drug Price Gouging Law
The Associated Press: Maryland Asks Supreme Court To Uphold Law On Drug Pricing
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a first-in-the-nation law against pharmaceutical price gouging. The Maryland law, which was struck down by a federal appeals court panel this year, enabled the state's attorney general to sue makers of off-patent or generic drugs for price increases that state officials considered "unconscionable." That was defined as an excessive increase, unjustified by the cost of producing or distributing the drugs. Frosh noted that prices of generic drugs have skyrocketed in recent years. (Witte, 10/19)
The Baltimore Sun: Attorney General Frosh Appeals To U.S. Supreme Court To Uphold Maryland's Law Curbing Drug Price-Gouging
The General Assembly passed the so-called “price-gouging” law in 2017 at the urging of Frosh and health care advocates, and over the objections of the pharmaceutical industry. In response to an industry challenge, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in April that the first-of-its-kind legislation violates the U.S. Constitution by trying to regulate trade beyond Maryland’s borders. (Dresser, 10/19)
Stat: Maryland Asks Supreme Court To Uphold Generic Price Gouging Law
Last spring, however, a federal appeals court ruled the state law violated interstate commerce by giving Maryland officials the right to govern business outside the state, effectively providing “unprecedented powers to regulate the national pharmaceutical market.” The clause bars states from passing legislation that regulates activity overseen by federal law. The challenge had been filed by the Association for Accessible Medicines, the trade group for the generic industry, which feared other states might pass similar laws. Over the past couple of years, bills were introduced in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And lawmakers in Vermont and Maine have also eyed such legislation. (Silverman, 10/19)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Former Heads Of FDA Push Plan To Make Agency Independent
A bipartisan group of seven former FDA Commissioners are uniting to advocate for breaking the Food and Drug Administration out of the Department of Health and Human Services and making it an independent agency. The idea is to make the FDA less vulnerable to political pressure, so it can focus instead on protecting public health. While FDA’s mission has always been politicized, the issue is particularly salient now given President Trump’s propensity for pressuring the agency to prioritize politically popular policies. (Florko, 10/19)
Stat: Just How Promising Is Merck's New Cancer Target STING?
Merck has a done a lot right in cancer immunotherapy, probably more than any of its pharma rivals. But the clinical debut of a new immune-boosting drug from its early-stage cancer pipeline Saturday suggests Merck is not heeding a hard lesson learned from its biggest blunder. The new Merck drug, called MK-1454, shows no evidence that it can kill cancer cells when injected into patients on its own, as a monotherapy. But when MK-1454 was used in combination with Merck’s checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda, the tumors in a small number of patients got smaller. (Feuerstein, 10/20)
