Pharma Has Made Strides In Offering Cheaper Drugs To Poorer Countries, But The Ground Is Precarious

The New York Times: Drug Companies Are Focusing On The Poor After Decades Of Ignoring Them
Twenty years ago, thousands of Africans died of AIDS each day as pharmaceutical companies looked on, murmuring sympathy but claiming that they could not afford to cut the prices of their $15,000-a-year H.I.V. drugs. It’s hard to imagine such a nightmare unfolding today. Vast changes have swept the drug industry over the last two decades. Powerful medicines once available only in rich countries are distributed in the most remote regions of the globe, saving millions of lives each year. (McNeil, 6/24)

Stat: The AbbVie And Allergan Deal: 'Two Turkeys Don't Make An Eagle'
Over the past couple of years, AbbVie (ABBV) executives have struggled to convince investors they had a long-term strategy for growth. Now, something resembling a plan has emerged: The drug maker agreed to pay $63 billion in cash and stock for Allergan (AGN), which has had even more difficulty appeasing critics over some of its own ill-fated moves that pummeled its stock and sapped confidence in management. (Silverman, 6/25)

Boston Globe: Drug-Pricing Watchdog Under Fire For A 'One-Size-Fits-All' Approach
An influential Boston-based watchdog group uses a “one-size-fits-all” approach to judge a fair price for prescription drugs, a mindset ill-suited for a growing wave of expensive medicines that treat rare diseases, according to a new report by a think tank. The report by the libertarian-leaning Pioneer Institute challenged how the nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, or ICER, gauges what drugs should cost. The watchdog’s real agenda, said the Pioneer report, is simply to build pressure on drug firms to cut prices. (Saltzman, 6/24)

The Associated Press: Suit: Generic Drug Makers Used Code To Fix Price Increases
Representatives of some of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers used code words to collude with competitors to divvy up market share and coordinate price increases according to a federal lawsuit. The code words were used in internal emails highlighted in the lawsuit filed last month by attorneys general from 43 states and Puerto Rico. The 510-page federal lawsuit was released in full Monday. The lawsuit says the representatives used phrases like “playing nice in the sandbox” and “fluff pricing” in emails to one another. (LeBlanc, 6/24)

WBUR: This Mass. Woman Has 2 Insurance Plans. She's Still Struggling To Pay For Prescriptions 
A new WBUR poll finds that although the vast majority of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, nearly one in three who’s filled a prescription in the last year has struggled to afford it. More than one in four reports skipping doses or rationing pills because of concerns about cost. (Weintraub, 6/24)

Stat: Insulin Rationing Higher Among US Diabetics Than Worldwide Rate, Survey Finds 
In the latest indication of how some people are struggling to afford their medicines, a new survey finds that 18 percent of people who have diabetes around the world rationed their insulin at least once last year, but this occurred among nearly 26 percent of people with diabetes in the US. (Silverman, 6/21)

The Star Tribune: Frustrated Diabetics Turn To Internet Black Market For Insulin
Abigail Hansmeyer had waited weeks for her health insurer to approve the type of insulin that works best to control her diabetes. Finally, with her supply running low, the New Brighton woman turned to a source that many diabetics have come to depend on: the robust black market for insulin and diabetic supplies. “It is amazing how many people rely on it on a day-to-day basis,” said Hansmeyer, who has type 1 diabetes and got the insulin off an internet site. “For two months I had to rely on that black market.” (Howatt, 6/24)

The CT Mirror: Diabetics Taking Desperate Measures As Cost Of Insulin Skyrockets
The Health Care Cost Institute reported that Type 1 diabetes patients – who generally must inject themselves every day — paid an average of $5,705 for insulin in 2016, nearly double what they paid four years earlier. But this raises an obvious question, of course. Why is a drug that’s been around since the 1920s so expensive? (Radelat, 6/21)

The CT Mirror: Tong: Emails Highlight Collusion Among Generic Drug Manufacturers
The state Attorney General’s office made public Monday a series of emails tied to its sweeping drug price-fixing complaint that it says demonstrate a conspiracy to inflate the cost of generic prescription medication. One email highlights an attempt by a lawyer for Heritage Pharmaceuticals to coordinate a response with other companies to a Congressional inquiry. In it, the attorney suggests they respond with “polite FU letters.” (Carlesso, 6/24)

WBUR: WBUR Poll: 76% Of Mass. Residents Think Drug Prices Are Unreasonable 
The vast majority of Massachusetts residents view the cost of prescription drugs as unreasonable, and two out of three say it's a major problem, according to a new WBUR poll .Among people who've recently taken a medication, more than a third said they've been told their insurance plan would not cover a drug prescribed by their doctor. (Harrison, 6/24)

The Advocate: Louisiana To Announce Details For 'Netflix'-Style Deal Aimed At Cutting Cost Of Hepatitis C Treatment 
Louisiana officials are set to announce a deal with drug makers Wednesday aimed at providing broader access to a Hepatitis C drug for some of the state's most vulnerable patients. In an agreement shepherded through negotiations by Louisiana Health Department Secretary Rebekah Gee, pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences Inc. has authorized Asegua Therapeutics to distribute a medication that typically costs $24,000 per treatment to the state's Medicaid patients and patients in state prisons in unlimited quantities for the next five years. (Woodruff, 6/25)

Columbus Dispatch: Small Town Pharmacy Prospers In Other States, Suffers In Ohio
Pharmacists across Ohio have blamed low reimbursements for Medicaid drugs for making it difficult to stay in business. During the past three years, a net 177 pharmacies have closed, according to records maintained by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. Fruth said that during the past year, more that 30 struggling Ohio pharmacies asked her to make an offer to buy them. (Schladen, 6/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind Spate Of Drug Deals, The Need For Short-Term Growth
Pricing pressures and patent expirations for top-selling drugs are opening up opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to make major deals at relatively bargain prices. But questions remain about whether the transactions will lead to long-term growth. AbbVie Inc.’s $63 billion planned acquisition of Allergan PLC announced Tuesday is the latest example of two challenged pharmaceutical companies hoping to be more successful as a combined entity. Similar scenarios helped bring together Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. and Shire PLC last year, as well as Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co. and Celgene Corp. in January. (Hopkins, 6/25)

Stat: ICER Says Novartis MS Drug Price 'Out Of Line' As Groups Push Back
A controversial cost-effectiveness watchdog has declared that Novartis (NVS) priced its recently approved multiple sclerosis drug “far out of line,” the latest slap at the pharmaceutical industry over pricing for such treatments. But critics are using the watchdog’s analysis to push back on the approach it takes to assess the value of new medicines. (Silverman, 6/21)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Why Are Drug Prices So Random? Meet Mr. PBM
Surely, an old-time, generic drug can’t cost $720 — for a three-month supply? After a close call with an outrageous Rx tab, host Dan Weissmann tackles the health care cost puzzle he’s been avoiding: figuring out prescription drug prices. Here’s what he found: Your insurance company is probably in cahoots with a pharmacy benefit manager — and the negotiations that go on between them are trade secrets. No wonder it’s so hard to know what you’ll pay at the drugstore counter! (Weissmann, 6/26)

Portland Press Herald: Gov. Mills Signs 4 Bills To Reduce Medication Prices, Including Buying From Canada
Gov. Janet Mills signed a package of bills Monday that aim to reduce prescription drug prices, including one measure allowing the state to act as a drug wholesaler to purchase cheaper medications from Canada. Mills said the bills she signed into law will help address what she described as “unsustainable” and “intolerable” price increases that force many Mainers to choose between paying for medications or other necessities. (Miller, 6/24)