Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Made Headlines By Rolling Back Price Increases To Appease Trump. In 2019, It Will Return To Business As Usual.
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer To Raise Prices On 41 Drugs In January
Pfizer Inc. plans to resume its practice of raising drug prices early next year after bowing to pressure from President Trump over the summer when the company rolled back some increases. Pfizer, among the world’s biggest drugmakers by sales, won’t be raising prices as much as it has in past years. It said it would raise the list prices of 41 of its prescription drugs, or 10% of its portfolio, in January. The price increases were first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier Friday. (Rockoff and Hopkins, 11/16)
Politico: Pfizer Raises Drug Prices Again, Rebuking Trump
Trump attacked Pfizer in July after the company raised prices, just weeks after he announced a drug pricing plan he claimed would result in "historic" price cuts. Trump accused the company of "taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves," and Pfizer a day later agreed to cancel the price increases. Pfizer at the time said the rollback would give Trump an opportunity to work on his administration's drug price plan. The company said it would reinstate price increases at the end of the year if the administration's drug pricing plan didn't take effect. (Karlin-Smith, 11/16)
Bloomberg: Pfizer To Raise Drug Prices, Ending Trump-Requested Freeze
While Pfizer regularly takes price increases throughout the year, these planned increases are fewer in number than it usually takes. (Koons and Edney, 11/16)
Modern Healthcare: Soaring Brand-Name Drug Prices More Than Offset Growing Generic Use
Cleveland Clinic implemented an entire supply chain and treatment protocol for one drug to ensure that it is not wasted. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Biogen's Spinraza, the first drug it cleared to treat spinal muscular atrophy, about two years ago. The first year's supply of the potentially lifesaving therapy is about $750,000, and then $375,000 a year thereafter, said Jeffrey Rosner, senior director of pharmacy contracting and purchasing at Cleveland Clinic. (Kacik, 11/16)
Stat: EpiPen May Have A Lot Of Value ... But Only If It Costs $24
In fact, the value of a twin-pack of the widely used allergy-relief device is just $24 a year, according to a new analysis based on cost effectiveness benchmarks. With the help of simulation models, the researchers reached this conclusion by assuming that EpiPen and similar devices could provide a 10-fold drop in the risk of dying from a peanut allergy, although their value would hit $36 if every prospective patient carried a device, which is unlikely. However, the value would climb to $264 by assuming the devices offered a 100-fold reduced risk of dying. (Silverman, 11/16)
Stat: Gottlieb Pushes For Funding To Speed Gene Therapy Reviews
The Food and Drug Administration is working to increase its investment in reviewing gene therapy products, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Friday. ... Gottlieb said he has had internal discussions about trying to increase funding and staffing to review those products. An FDA spokesperson said Gottlieb is looking to increase the budget by $50 million so the agency can hire 60 additional reviewers. (Swetltiz, 11/16)
The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Joins In $625 Million Settlement With Company Over Adulterated Cancer Drugs
The pharmaceutical wholesale firm AmerisourceBergen Corp. has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Maryland and several other states and the federal government that alleged the company fraudulently marketed adulterated drugs to vulnerable cancer patients. Maryland’s Medicaid program will recoup $1.8 million from the Valley Forge, Pa.-based Fortune 500 firm, the office Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh announced Friday. (Cohn, 11/16)
Kaiser Health News: New Congress To Tackle Burning Health Care Issues, Including Drug Prices
Voters ranked health care as the top issue facing the country after the midterms, according to CBS News exit polling. KHN senior correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble joined “Red and Blue” anchor Elaine Quijano to discuss how Republicans and Democrats are responding to the American public’s call to action — with a focus on skyrocketing prescription drug prices. Tribble and Quijano also explored how the midterms bolstered Medicaid expansion in a handful of states. (11/16)
Boston Globe: Protesters At Sanofi In Cambridge Decry High Price Of Insulin
Two mothers Friday tried to deliver the ashes of their two diabetic children to the Cambridge offices of drug giant Sanofi to protest the high price of insulin, which the company manufactures. The women said their adult children died while rationing the drug to save money, after losing their health insurance. Antroinette Worsham of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nicole Smith-Holt from Richfield, Minn., were joined by about 75 protesters. According to the Brookline-based Right Care Alliance, a patient advocacy coalition that organized the protest, Paris-based Sanofi is one of three insulin manufacturers that in recent years have marked up prices by as much as 5,000 percent. (Hagan, 11/16)
Prescription Drug Watch: For news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.
