Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: With Federal Government Stalled Over Drug Prices, States Should Be Allowed To Act
Bloomberg: Let States Lower Drug Prices
Drug prices are too high, and Congress lacks the political will to do anything about it. These are two of the most uncontroversial assertions in the contentious debate about U.S. health care policy -- and they explain why states should be allowed to act on their own. (12/11)
The Hill: Other Countries Control Drug Prices The US Could, Too
Public opinion surveys show that most Americans are deeply concerned about rising drug prices. That’s not surprising: Overall, we spend twice as much on drugs as our counterparts in other developed countries. For example, in 2015, the most recent year for which data are available, an American patient and insurer could expect to pay about $2,670 for a month’s supply of adalimumab, a drug commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. A patient and insurer in the United Kingdom would pay about $1,360 for the same supply of the same drug; in Switzerland, about $820. (Allan Coukell, 12/7)
Bloomberg: A Cancer-Drug Pricing Experiment Just Got More Interesting
It's one of those good news/bad news situations.The good news is that Pfizer Inc.'s cancer drug talazoparib -- which came with its $14 billion acquisition of Medivation Inc. in 2016 -- helps breast-cancer patients, according to late-stage trial data released Friday. The bad news? Though comparing trials is tricky, the results look similar to those produced by AstraZeneca PLC's drug Lynparza, which is already on the market. If approved by the FDA, Pfizer's drug will be the fourth in a class of potentially interchangeable drugs called PARP inhibitors to hit the market. (Max Nisen, 12/8)
Forbes: Biopharma Schizophrenia: High Demand For Innovation Vs. Pleas For 'Me-Too' Drugs
In a session called “Five Fixes For Healthcare” at the recent Forbes Healthcare Summit, concerns were raised about how innovative the biopharmaceutical industry really is. Dr. Laurie Glimcher, CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, chided the industry saying that, when it comes to productivity, we “need to make a distinction between drugs that are transformative and drugs that are ‘me-too’.” Dr. George Yancopoulos, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Regeneron, was even more strident in his remarks, criticizing the industry’s 2016 new drug output noting that of the 22 FDA approvals only seven compounds were novel breakthroughs. (John LaMattina, 12/11)
The Hill: Keep Big Government Out Of Medicare Drug Pricing Negotiations
[On Tuesday], the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee (HELP) will discuss a proposed alteration to Medicare. The proposal comes from a report released in late November by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. NASEM urges Congress to allow federal bureaucrats to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. Currently, private insurance companies conduct these negotiations. The academies believe the federal government could use its bulk purchasing power to obtain lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. (Sally Pipes, 12/11)
Newsweek: How To Reduce Medical Drug Prices At A Stroke
From penicillin to vaccines to biologics, pharmaceutical innovation has blessed us with better ways to treat, prevent and even cure disease. But some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most recent “innovations” have nothing to do with health, other than their own financial health. Drug companies are coming up with imaginative – and I would argue “unscrupulous” – ways to circumvent competition and the free market. All in an effort to keep their prices and profits high. (Scott Knoer, 12/6)
Bloomberg: Sex, Drugs And That Little Blue Pill
On Monday, a generic drug company is going to begin selling sildenafil in the U.S., and to tell you the truth, I’m surprised the news hasn’t gotten more attention. You see, sildenafil is the compound that goes by the brand name Viagra. Introduced by Pfizer Inc. in March 1998, Viagra has generated over $17 billion in the U.S. alone. Although the Viagra patent doesn’t expire until 2020, Pfizer agreed about four years ago to allow Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. to sell a generic version starting in December 2017, settling a legal battle between the two companies. (Joe Nocera, 12/6)
