Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Social Media Influencers Promoting Meds Need Regulations; Should Drug Info Be Digital?
Stat: TikTok, Instagram Influencers Need More Rules For Drug Ads
In June, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter about advertisements for the drug Recorlev for Cushing’s syndrome — its first in more than a year about webpages that make “false or misleading claims” about prescription drugs. More recently, in December the agency published guidance about TV and radio advertisements. (Sneha Dave, Sydney Reed and Steven Woolshin, 1/22)
Stat: Printout Prescription Drug Information Shouldn’t Go Digital
Getting a new prescription can be overwhelming: medication schedules, foods to eat or avoid, interactions between different drugs. Having all of these details in accessible, printed documents keeps patients informed and mitigates the risk of medication errors. (John Whyte, 1/22)
The Tennessean: Pharmacy Benefit Companies: Congress Should Serve American Consumers
A recent report from the U.S. Office the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found that, “More than 5 million Medicare beneficiaries struggle to afford prescription medications.” (Chris Yard, 1/20)
Scientific American: Lower Drug Costs Are Just A Federal License Away. But They Require Biden Administration Leadership
In December the White House announced a new draft guidance that allows federal agencies to grant nonvoluntary licenses to patents on inventions funded with taxpayer dollars. These are called “march-in” rights, and they allow the government to force licensing, when necessary, to remedy an abuse or nonuse of such patented inventions. The draft guidance fundamentally changes policy on federally funded inventions, including drugs and other products that rely on inventions that are sold at high prices by pharma and biotech companies. (James Love, 1/23)
