Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Will Americans Actually Be Able To Afford A Vaccine If One Is Available?
The Hill: We Need A Coronavirus Vaccine — I Just Wish We Could Afford It
Since its discovery in Wuhan, China, in December last year, coronavirus has infected more than 100 000 people in 103 countries and resulted in panic, travel bans and quarantines. Talk has turned to a potential vaccine, with President Trump promising one in “a couple of months.” However, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar effectively decided the opposite by stating that the U.S. would not place price controls — regulations to control the cost— on potential coronavirus vaccines. In Azar’s words: “The priority is to get vaccines and therapeutics. Price controls won’t get us there.” (Safura Abdool Karim, 3/20)
Stat: Saving Lives Should Be Good Business. Why Doesn’t That Apply To Finding New Antibiotics?
Ihave spent my career as a biomedical entrepreneur working to develop products that have the potential to save lives while also generating returns for shareholders. Two years ago, I co-founded a new company, Octagon Therapeutics, focused on a critical unmet medical need and a growing market opportunity: more effective antibiotics. It turned out to be a disaster. (Isaac Stoner, 3/18)
Stat: Insulin Prices And PBM Rebates: Pin The Tail On The Patient
Over the past 15 years, insulin prices have more than doubled. Pharmaceutical companies have been on the receiving end of most of the blame, and the chorus of angry voices has grown louder given Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s H.R. 3 bill, which shows that Americans pay three times more for the same medicines than Europeans do. (Duane Schulthess, 3/19)
The Hill: Congress Needs To Clear A Path For People Living With Diabetes To Stay Safe During Pandemic
While estimates suggest that hundreds of millions of Americans may contract the coronavirus, the complications experienced by those infected will vary widely. The whole point of “flattening the curve” is to ensure that those who are most in need of medical resources — the elderly and those with underlying health conditions — can receive medical attention when they need it. The over 34 million Americans living with diabetes make up a significant part of this group, and we need Congress and the states to provide urgent help to blunt the potentially devastating impact on our community. (Tracey D. Brown, 3/23)
Des Moines Register: Grassley Prescription Drug Bill Holds Big Pharma Accountable
Big Pharma opposes a bill introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley and supported by Sen. Joni Ernst that would curb rising drug prices, but you wouldn’t know that from a recent op-ed in the Des Moines Register that calls them pawns of the pharmaceutical industry. The column charged that the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act, which is supported by both Democrats and Republicans, is a giveaway to pharmaceutical companies, falsely claiming that the proposed cap on out-of-pocket costs for Iowans on Medicare wouldn’t “stop corporations” and that the bill is merely paying “lip service” to voters. But what it left out were critical details about the bill, while including irrelevant personal attacks on those who support bipartisan solutions. (Laura Kaminenski, 3/18)
