Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Drug Coupons Are Nothing But A Sneaky Marketing Ploy
Los Angeles Times: California Bill Would End 'Purely Profit-Driven' Practice Of Drug-Company Coupons
When it comes to fixing the dysfunctional U.S. healthcare system, state Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) knows there are bigger fish to fry than drug-company discount coupons. But as he told me: “You’ve got to start somewhere.” Wood’s anti-coupon bill, AB 265, was approved by the Assembly last week. The legislation is now making its way through the state Senate. (David Lazarus, 6/6)
The Wall Street Journal: How To Make Medicine More Expensive
Registering outrage over the high price of medicine is a national pastime, especially for politicians whose solution is always handing themselves more power. The latest examples come from Nevada and Maryland, where legislators are passing bills to punish drugmakers for no benefit to patients. On Friday Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval vetoed a bill on diabetes medication. The bill swept through the legislature and may make a comeback, so it’s worth examining the details. (6/4)
The New York Times: Outcry Over EpiPen Prices Hasn’t Made Them Lower
A few weeks ago, after some particularly incompetent parenting on my part (nuts in the dessert, a rushed trip to an emergency room after my child’s allergic reaction), I visited the local pharmacy to fill an EpiPen prescription. You might recall EpiPen as last year’s poster child for out-of-control drug prices. Though this simple medical device contains only about $1 of the drug epinephrine, the company that sells it, Mylan, earned the public’s enmity and lawmakers’ scrutiny after ratcheting up prices to $609 a box. (Charles Duhigg, 6/4)
USA Today: Drug Costs Stratospheric In Large Part Due To Big Pharma
When I was a kid, I loved hearing the same fairy tales over and over. Ogres fell at the thrust of princely swords. Lovely damsels found their real mothers and the wicked stepmothers who condemned them to cleaning the scullery vanished into the claws of avenging crows. That sort of thing. Nowadays, all the repeated fairy tales are about health care. And I don’t like them a bit. (Tom Herzing, 6/1)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: In Washington, Everyone Is For Lower Drug Prices, But Only In Theory
One issue where most Americans — 76 percent of them — find common ground is the high price of prescription drugs. President Donald Trump campaigned on the issue and since his inauguration repeatedly has promised to bring drug prices down. Most Democrats and many Republicans in Congress agree. So why has nothing happened? In a word, money. Hundreds of millions of the dollars that Americans spend on drugs find their way into campaign funds and lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill. In the past decade, the pharmaceutical industry has spent more than $2.5 billion lobbying Congress. Opensecrets.org reports that in 2016, the industry spent $245 million on lobbyists; the next biggest industry sector, insurance, spent nearly $100 million less. (6/6)
Bloomberg: Roche Takes Another Cancer-Drug Hit
Roche Holding AG has been a dominant cancer-drug maker for years, meaning the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is usually a showcase for it. Not this time. One of the company's leading cancer drugs, Perjeta, had an unexpectedly poor showing on Monday at this year's ASCO in Chicago. A much-anticipated trial of the drug in post-surgery breast cancer patients showed it has a low impact on the chance of cancer reoccurring when used with the company's blockbuster Herceptin, according to data from Roche. News of generally positive results in March boosted Roche ADRs by 6 percent. Monday's new details caused shares to fall as much as 8 percent Monday. (Max Nisen, 6/5)
Bloomberg: Merck's Grip On A Hot Cancer-Drug Market May Tighten
While you were hopefully having a lovely summer weekend, Eli Lilly & Co. investors were sweating over the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which may invalidate a patent on the company's lung-cancer drug Alimta as soon as Monday. They have reason to be anxious. Alimta was Lilly's third-largest medicine last year, accounting for nearly $2.3 billion in sales. A patent loss could hasten generic competition, which would be bad news when coupled with the company's other patent losses, setbacks in its drug pipeline, and competition in the diabetes market. The patent at issue expires in 2022, so losing it now could mean a lot of lost revenue for Lilly. The company can appeal the decision, but there's a chance Alimta generics could hit the market this year. (Max Nisen, 6/5)
Scranton Times-Tribune: No Easy Cure For Drug Costs
House Republicans weren’t the only ones celebrating recently over their ill-considered and ill-fated American Health Care Act. Pharmaceutical manufacturers, importers, distributors and retailers all had reason to pop corks because the bill did nothing to control drug costs while repealing a fee on manufacturers and importers that would save the industries about $2.5 billion a year. (6/1)
The Columbus Dispatch: Did Big Pharma Get Ohio Addicted?
America is awash in opioids. In Ohio, the crisis has reached epidemic proportions: More than 4,100 died last year from unintentionally overdosing — in parks, libraries, cars, homes, theaters, restaurants. And still, the toll is soaring. Coroners are running out of morgue space. Families have been devastated. Ohio’s child-welfare agencies, courts, hospitals, prisons and Medicaid system are overwhelmed. (6/4)
The Hill: When It Comes To Faster Access To Drugs, First Do No Harm
Over 60 percent of Americans want the government to take action to lower prescription drug prices — and Congress, for once, is listening to voters. Lawmakers are pushing forward two pieces of parallel legislation, the Senate’s Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act and another House bill the Fair Access for Safe and Timely (FAST) Generics Act of 2017. (Peter Pitts, 6/4)
