Pharma Struggling To Preserve Mythological Clout On Capitol Hill As Dems Prepare To Swoop Into Power In House

Stat: Will Democrats In Congress Keep The Door Open For Pharma — Or Slam It?
With annual revenues of roughly $450 million and an army of some 160 lobbyists, PhRMA has long been described in near mythological terms by both awed opponents and reverent allies: It’s untouchable, it never loses, it can kill a bill before the ink is dry on the first draft. Suddenly, however, the industry lobbying powerhouse looks far more vulnerable. More than a dozen current and former staffers and lobbyists connected to the drug industry told STAT that as Democrats take control of the House in January, PhRMA is struggling to preserve its clout. (Florko, 12/10)

The Hill: The Year Ahead: Drug Pricing Efforts To Test Bipartisanship
A new Democratic majority is taking over in the House next year with a number of health issues taking center stage. Democrats will use their new power to try to shore up the Affordable Care Act and rein in high health care and prescription drug costs. But the party will also face its own internal debate, while insurgents on the left keep up their push to implement Medicare for All. (Hellmann, 12/11)

Politico: Democratic Divide On Drug Pricing Likely In House
Congressional Democrats’ united front on curbing drug prices may soon change: A pair of senior lawmakers who’ve disagreed in the past on the pharmaceutical industry are in line to chair key health subcommittees in the next Congress. (Owermohle and Karlin-Smith, 12/10)

The Hill: House Passes Bill To Keep Drug Companies From Overcharging Medicaid 
The House approved a proposal Tuesday cracking down on the tactics drug companies use to charge Medicaid. The bipartisan bill, from Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), comes after the Department of Health and Human Services last year accused Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, of overcharging the Medicaid program by as much as $1.27 billion over ten years by misclassifying the drug as a generic. (Hellmann, 12/11)

Stat: Dozens Of Groups Attack Trump Plan To Peg Drug Prices To What Other Countries Pay
A controversial Trump administration plan to lower drug costs by pegging prices to what are paid by several foreign countries is getting pushback from dozens of groups. They argue the proposal would import price controls, restrict patient access, and reduce incentives for medical innovation. In a letter to House and Senate leaders, the groups maintain the proposal is misguided and would ultimately hurt millions of Medicare B beneficiaries. And so, they urged the lawmakers to end the proposed pilot program and instead consider implementing some of the ideas in a limited fashion. (Silverman, 12/10)

The New York Times: How To Cut Drug Prices: Experts Weigh In
Americans are generally uncomfortable with pharmaceutical prices — which are the highest for brand drugs among wealthy nations — and with drug companies’ profits. But if policies were adopted to reduce drug prices, could there be negative consequences? On balance, would such policies be good or bad? I asked three health policy experts to consider these questions in the context of four specific drug pricing policies. (Frakt, 12/10)

Vox: The Groundbreaking Lawsuit Over Generic Drugs
It’s the biggest lawsuit you might not know anything about: Generic drug companies stand accused of running a “cartel” that rigged the market and fixed prices, costing patients and taxpayers, according to a complaint that has been joined by almost every state’s attorney general. The scope just keeps getting bigger: The litigation started by focusing on two drugs but has since expanded to implicate 16 companies and more than 300 drugs, Connecticut assistant attorney general Joseph Nielsen, who has led the effort, told the Washington Post. “This is most likely the largest cartel in the history of the United States,” Nielsen told the Post’s Christopher Rowland. Not mincing words. (Scott, 12/10)

Stat: Pennsylvania Auditor Urges Laws To Crack Down On PBM Contracts For Medicaid
Amid rising scrutiny of pharmacy benefit manager practices, the Pennsylvania state auditor is recommending several steps that lawmakers should take to clamp down on these controversial middlemen in hopes of controlling prescription drug costs. The effort was prompted after Ohio recently ended contracts with two of the largest PBMs over pricing practices in the Medicaid program that cost the state tens of millions of dollars, a step that triggered increased interest among officials in other states over contracts and an alleged lack of transparency. (Silverman, 12/11)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio's Drug Setup Getting More Transparency In 2019
Ohio Medicaid will abandon its secretive prescription drug-pricing system in three weeks and move to a transparent system that for the first time will disclose exactly how billions in taxpayer dollars are being spent. State officials aren’t promising any savings, but the move could lead to lower costs and spur more changes in the way Medicaid pays for drugs. (Candisky, 12/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Leads Way As States Take On 'Pharmacy Benefit Manager' Middlemen
Officials in states across the U.S. showed little interest for years about looking into the black box of pharmacy benefit managers, the pharmacy supply-chain middlemen who have been shrouded in secrecy as they pour billions of dollars worth of prescription drug rebates into state coffers. That setup provided states with more than $20 billion in rebates last year alone, an average of $450 million for each state that uses the so-called PBMs to help manage their Medicaid programs, a three-month national survey by The Columbus Dispatch revealed. Rebates are meant to be a price concession intended to lower drug costs. (Candisky, Sullivan and Schladen, 12/8)

Stat: An FDA Inspection Report Shows Just How Troubled A Pfizer Plant Really Is 
Yet another inspection by the Food and Drug Administration underscores the difficulties that Pfizer (PFE) is having with a key plant that has been responsible for severe shortages of injectables and other drugs. The problems at the McPherson, Kan., facility, which Pfizer inherited as part of its $16 billion acquisition of Hospira three years ago, include employees who lack training to manufacture, process, or package products; a failure to review unexplained discrepancies in batches of medicines; and inadequate procedures to prevent contamination, according to an agency inspection report last July and August and posted on the FDA web site on Thursday. (Silverman, 12/7)

Stat: Two Former Alexion Execs Launch New Company ElevateBio 
Two former Alexion executives, both of whom resigned in the middle of a scandal two years ago, are starting a new biotech company — one with ambitious goals in cell and gene therapy, according to a new slide deck obtained by STAT. The presentation provides some of the first details about the secretive new company, which its founders, including David Hallal and Vikas Sinha, are calling ElevateBio. They haven’t yet publicly discussed its existence or launched a website. (Sheridan, 12/11)