Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pentagon Paid Millions More Buying EpiPens At Retail Prices
Reuters: EpiPen Price Hikes Add Millions To Pentagon Costs
Mylan NV's price hikes on EpiPens have added millions to U.S. Department of Defense spending since 2008 as the agency covered more prescriptions for the lifesaving allergy shot at near retail prices, government data provided to Reuters shows. Pentagon spending rose to $57 million over the past year from $9 million in 2008 - an increase driven both by volume and by price hikes that had a bigger bite on prescriptions filled at retail pharmacies, according to the previously unreported data. (10/28)
Reuters: Mylan EpiPen: One Piece Of A Complicated U.S. Pricing System
The complex U.S. system for drug pricing creates wide variation in what people pay for the same prescription medications, such as Mylan NV's EpiPen. A Reuters review of government data found that Mylan's price hikes on the lifesaving allergy shot have increased spending for the U.S. Defense Department, based on its arrangements for covering drug costs. Here's how drug pricing works for different constituencies. (10/28)
In other news about the EpiPen-maker —
Stat: FTC Seeks Review Of A Court Ruling On Generic Drug Competition
A four-year-old case is now lodged in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia where Mylan Pharmaceuticals — and the agency — are urging a review of an example of product hopping. The term is used to describe modest reformulations that are made to a medicine, but without offering any substantive therapeutic advantages. Generic companies say such moves are a subterfuge designed to extend patents. Brand-name drug makers maintain such improvements are legitimate. In this instance, Warner-Chilcott, which is now owned by Allergan, added a line, or “score,” to its Doryx acne tablets. The company has contended that scoring served a useful consumer purpose by allowing patients to more easily divide their pills. (Silverman, 10/27)
