Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Implementing Socialist-Style Price Controls On Drugs Is Not A Win For Trump, It's A Surrender
The Hill: International Price Index For Medicine Will Harm Patients
President Trump was elected on his promise to stop other nations from taking advantage of the United States. Our allies let us pay for most of their own national defense needs. Treaties allowed once poor countries to hit American products with tariffs and trade barriers. The Paris agreement on climate change burdened our manufacturers and workers, while letting China and India build and expand without such onerous restrictions. Trump highlighted that nations steal our intellectual property through piracy and use their monopoly power as a buyer to force our innovative drug industry to sell American products at cut rate prices or have their patents stripped. This is extortion plain and simple. (Grover Norquist and Alexander Hendrie, 12/4)
Stat: Ferreting Out Prescription Drug Scams On Social Media
"Are you in pain?” Millions of Facebook users saw an ad asking this question and suggesting that relief was available by clicking here. Those who clicked were presented with a pop-up survey that sought more information about their pain condition, along with insurance and personal contact information. For the unsuspecting folks who filled out the survey, their involvement in a multimillion-dollar fraudulent prescription drug scheme had just begun. (Rick Battelle, 12/5)
Bloomberg: Will Donald Trump Stand Up To Seniors On Drug Prices?
President Donald Trump’s drug pricing-push is about to run into what might be its most potent opponent yet: America’s senior citizens. ... The Trump administration released a proposal for rules that would make it easier for Medicare Part D prescription-drug plans to negotiate prices for a broader array of medicines than they do currently. That’s arguably a good thing. But in order for this effort to have a real impact, plans will likely have to be able to restrict the access that senior citizens have had for more than a decade to certain classes of drugs. (Max Nisen, 11/27)
Stat: 'Rebate Walls' For Drugs Should Be Dismantled By The FTC
While policymakers are giving considerable attention to escalating drug prices and ways to rein them in, the Federal Trade Commission needs to use its muscle by opening antitrust investigations and bringing enforcement actions against pharmaceutical manufacturers where necessary. It can start by addressing a questionable contracting practice in the pharmaceutical industry known as a rebate wall or rebate trap. Although “rebate” sounds like something that should benefit consumers and result in lower prices, there is increasing evidence that rebates from pharmaceutical manufacturers to pharmacy benefit managers and others have actually inflated the price of drugs and stifled the ability to compete by rival manufacturers of less expensive drugs to compete. (12/4)
Chicago Sun Times: EpiPens And High Drug Prices: We Need A Shot Of Fairness
The scandalously high price of life-saving EpiPens was supposed to fall, but it has not. As Stephanie Zimmermann reported in Monday’s Sun-Times, a new generic competitor to EpiPens, which people use to inject epinephrine when they are experiencing a severe allergic reaction, is clocking in at $300. If competitive forces cannot drive down the price of an essential drug that costs just $75 across the border in Canada, Congress and federal regulators have the authority, as well as an ethical obligation, to step in. (12/3)
Des Moines Register: Lower Drug Prices On The Way For Iowa Seniors
Iowa is getting grayer. By 2030, roughly three in 10 Iowans will be older than 60. That's a 30 percent spike from today. Keeping these seniors healthy depends on sound health coverage, especially for prescription drugs, as the typical American senior takes four different drugs each day. (Drew Kamp, 12/4)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: NYT Shows Link Between Innovations And High Drug Prices
It’s well-known that the United States spends more per person on prescription drugs than other countries. The causes of that disparity are complex and less familiar. Last month, The New York Times looked into rising prescription drug spending. The article had an obvious slant — that the United States needs price controls. Look beyond the editorializing, however, and a different picture emerges. (11/30)
Bloomberg: GlaxoSmithKline Deal For Tesaro: It's The Wrong Medicine
GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s ambitious but rather vague efforts to rebuild its pharma unit became more concrete Monday with its $5.1 billion acquisition of Tesaro Inc. But the deal comes with details that investors may not like. The company is paying a significant premium for Zejula, an ovarian cancer drug with sluggish sales, and an unproven pipeline. It’s difficult to get biotech deals done without paying up, and Glaxo is rebuilding a cancer program from scratch. While Tesaro’s lofty past valuation gives the appearance of a bargain, Glaxo may not have gotten one. Glaxo achieved an ignominious milestone Monday morning: Its market cap declined by more than the deal cost. (Max Nisen, 12/3)
