Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: The Poster Child For High Drug Prices Is Getting Locked Up, But That Won't End Cost Controversy
Bloomberg: Martin Shkreli Prison Sentence Won't End Pharma's Drug Price Woes
One long pharma industry nightmare is over, now that Martin Shkreli has been sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors. Another nightmare for which Shkreli was the poster child -- the controversy over U.S. drug-pricing -- goes on. I haven't examined Shkreli's innermost soul, and he claimed at his sentencing hearing to have been changed by his trial and time in jail. But he has done an awfully good impression of a bad person. He defrauded investors. He took a decades-old, life-saving drug needed by vulnerable patients, raised its price by more than 5000 percent and then gloated about it. He harassed and threatened reporters. He once sported a Pepe the Frog pin on Bloomberg television, because wearing a symbol embraced by internet Nazis is hilarious. (Max Nisen, 3/9)
Forbes: Martin Shkreli's Real Crime: Stealing From The Wrong People
What a comedown. Two years ago, the smirking failed hedge fund manager and former pharma CEO Martin Shkreli laughed as he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights when testifying before Congress. It was all a jokeToday, his smirk was gone. Shkreli cried — sobbed, in some accounts — as he begged for "your honor's mercy," pleading for leniency from a federal court judge.Shkreli got seven years on Friday. Mercy he had failed to show others was withheld. "Pharma Bro" had committed an unforgivable theft. (Erik Sherman, 3/9)
The Hill: Allegations Of Generic Drug Price Fixing Are Troubling
NPR's recent story about alleged collusion among certain generic drug manufacturers is somewhat surprising given the market’s structure and pricing dynamics. Generic drugs are sold on the basis of intense price competition amongst manufacturers and suppliers. As the number of generic products increases, prices drop precipitously in a matter of months, offering substantial cost savings to wholesalers, pharmacies, hospitals and clinics. It is not uncommon to see the average price of a commonly available generic drug to fall 80 to 90 percent off the previously patented prescription drug’s list price. (Robert Freeman, 3/13)
Deseret News: To Cut Drug Prices, Start With The Facts
Americans are paying too much for prescription medicines. State lawmakers are fed up with Washington's apparent apathy towards high pharmacy bills. So they're taking matters into their own hands and pushing forward with several bills to fix the problem. Their proposals are well-intentioned — but they're doomed to backfire and hurt patients. Why? Well, the bills are based on false assumptions. (Peter Pitts, 3/9)
The Hill: Here's How To Structure Successful Right-To-Try Laws
Thirty eight States have enacted right-to-try (RTT) laws, the intent is to increase the availability of experimental medicines to individuals battling life-threatening conditions A federal version has support at the highest levels of the Trump administration including the president himself. Yet the Goldwater Institute, which created and has strongly championed these laws, cannot provide clear examples of patients who have gained access to potentially life-saving treatments through state RTT laws that they otherwise wouldn't have received under the FDA's current Expanded Access Program (EAP). Furthermore, federal RTT law will not increase access either. (Kenneth Moch, Andrew McFadyen and Arthur Caplan, 3/11)
The Courier-Journal: Kentucky Can Rein In Medicare Costs In 2018 Thanks To New Federal Policy
Kentucky residents suffering from painful and chronic medical conditions including cancer, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis stand to benefit from a federal rule change in effect as of this year that would offer greater access to treatment for Medicare patients. The new policy could increase patient access to lifesaving care for one of the largest Medicare beneficiary populations in the country by encouraging the development of a type of medication known as biosimilars. (Julian Reed, 3/12)
Bloomberg: Sanofi, Regeneron Praluent Discount Plan: A Worthwhile Gamble
When drug companies talk about the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), an independent organization that gauges the value of prescription drugs, it's usually to push back against it. After all, the ICER often suggests drugs are priced substantially higher than their clinical and economic value. But Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. made a surprising overture of friendship to the ICER on Saturday. The companies announced they would discount their cholesterol drug Praluent to levels the ICER suggested in a recent analysis for some patients. The announcement came alongside new data showing the medicine substantially reduced the risk of cardiovascular events in high-risk patients. (Max Nisen, 3/12)
