Pulling Back The Curtain On Drug Price Hubbub Reveals Some Veiled Threats From Trump Administration

The New York Times: How The Trump Administration Is Browbeating Big Pharma On Drug Prices
When titans of the pharmaceutical industry met here last week at the opulent Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Trump administration officials issued a blunt warning to the chief executives on the soaring prices of their medicine. Eric D. Hargan, the deputy secretary of health and human services, told the board of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America that the Trump administration strongly favored free-market solutions. But, he said, a continuation of aggressive price increases could invite remedies they would find far more distasteful. (Pear, 7/23)

Stat: Pricing Pledges From Drug Makers Include Plenty Of Fine Print 
Over the past two weeks, several large drug makers have either halted or rolled back prices as political pressure mounts on the pharmaceutical industry. The moves suggest more than a little political posturing because the Trump administration is trying to follow through on implementing its so-called blueprint for lowering drug costs and, presumably, these companies hope to get something in return. (Silverman, 7/23)

Bloomberg: Roche Hiked Cancer-Drug Prices Before Pledge To Keep Them Flat
Like a growing number of its peers, Roche Holding AG pledged this week not to raise drug prices for the rest of the year. Thing is, the Swiss company had already done the second of its customary two annual increases. Roche gave the U.S. government its no-price-rises promise on July 11, the company said in a statement Friday. The health system also needs to focus on “long-term, system-wide solutions that lower costs,” Roche said. “We’re committed to being part of the solution.” (Kresge, 7/20)

Kaiser Health News: Déjà Voodoo: Pharma’s Promises To Curb Drug Prices Have Been Heard Before
Prescription drug prices were soaring. Angry policymakers swore they’d take action. Pharma giant Merck responded by promising to address the problem voluntarily, vowing to keep price increases under the overall rate of inflation. “We believe these moderate increases are a responsible approach, which will help to contain costs,” the Merck CEO said at the annual shareholders meeting. That assurance wasn’t made last week, when multiple drug companies offered similar pledges amid similar criticism. It was nearly three decades ago, in 1990. (Hancock and Tribble, 7/25)

The Hill: Trump Battle Over Drug Prices Heats Up
The Trump administration is taking credit for a series of announcements by drug companies to freeze drug prices for the remainder of 2018, arguing it is proof that the president’s tough talk is leading to results. Amid a pressure campaign led by President Trump himself, five drug companies have said they will not increase prices this year, while one announced decreases for some medicines. (Hellmann, 7/22)

Modern Healthcare: How To Limit Drug Prices
HHS received over 3,000 comments on the Trump administration's Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices, which was released in May. Hospitals, health insurers and drugmakers had plenty to say on how to address soaring drug prices. Here are some edited excerpts from those comments. (Dickson, 7/21)

FierceHealthcare: AHIP: Rebates Not Driving Rise In Drug Pricing
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is fighting back against recent claims that drug rebates have been the primary driver of the rising cost of prescriptions, releasing their own report Friday about the impact of the discounts. The report (PDF), prepared by the consulting firm Milliman, relied on publicly available data on Medicare Part D drug spending. The analysts tracked the growth of list prices and rebates among drugs covered by Medicare Part D, as well as the number of competitors for those drugs. (Richman, 7/23)

Bloomberg: Analysts Expect Drug Supplier Whiplash To Endure On Rebate Changes
Analysts agree Trump’s prescription drug plans look ugly -- but they are divided on the real financial impact of the changes on the pharmaceutical supply chain. While Jefferies expects the rebates debate to be an overhang, they only see a “modestly negative” impact in the worst case scenario, with Medicare beneficiaries and the federal government shouldering the bulk of the costs if rebates were eliminated. (Flanagan, 7/20)

Stat: Democrats Take Aim At High Drug Prices With Bill Allowing Medicare To Negotiate 
The White House has been quick to claim credit for numerous drug companies’ decisions to back off planned price hikes for the remainder of 2018. But such crowing from the Trump administration has not sat well with Democrats, who this week unveiled a pair of bills aimed at lowering prescription drug costs. (Facher, 7/24)

The Hill: Eli Lilly CEO Denounces Plan To Consider Drug Imports 
Executives at Eli Lilly, one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies, are denouncing the Trump administration’s proposal to consider ways to import prescription drugs from other countries. During the company’s second quarter earnings call Tuesday, executives said the idea of importing drugs from abroad, even in narrow circumstances, is concerning. (Weixel, 7/24)

Stat: Federal Appeals Court Slams The Door On Allergan's Deal With The Mohawk Tribe
After months of anticipation, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that a Native American tribe cannot claim sovereign immunity in order to avoid a certain type of patent challenge. The decision is another blow to Allergan (AGN), which last fall famously transferred patent rights to one of its biggest-selling medicines to the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in hopes of thwarting generic competition. In reaching its decision, the court upheld a ruling issued earlier this year by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which handles inter partes reviews, a type of patent challenge that has vexed drug makers since going into effect six years ago, because these are easier and faster to file than patent lawsuits. (Silverman, 7/20)

Stat: Activists Want NIH To Break Patents On A Gilead Drug For Preventing HIV
Seeking to widen access to a pricey HIV prevention pill, a group of prominent AIDS activists is urging the federal government to create a national public health program that could lower costs by sidestepping patents held by Gilead Sciences (GILD), the manufacturer. At issue is the cost of Truvada, which is also known as PrEP and was approved six years ago as the first pill to prevent HIV. Despite clinical trials demonstrating a high degree of safety and efficacy, however, the uptake in the U.S. has been slow, falling far short of the potential to have a significant impact. (Silverman, 7/24)

Modern Healthcare: 340B Showdown: Big Pharma, Hospitals Squaring Off In Lobbying Fight 
In Washington, congressional aides waiting for the bus to take them to Capitol Hill stand by signs that picture a unicorn and ask: “What's rarer than a unicorn? A lifesaving program that costs taxpayers nothing. Congress please: Let340B.org.” A visit to the Let340B.org website, paid for by the AIDS Health Foundation in California, finds patient stories and the office phone numbers of lawmakers on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where serious talks over whether the program needs an overhaul started a few months ago. (Luthi, 7/21)

Stat: PhRMA Breaks Another Record For Federal Lobbying Spending
With political pressure rising and the midterm elections approaching, a top drug industry trade group has set another record for lobbying spending in Washington. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $15.5 million lobbying the federal government in the first half of this year. That’s the most PhRMA has spent in a comparable six-month period since at least 2001, the earliest year online records are available, according to lobbying disclosure filings updated on Friday. (Robbins, 7/20)

Forbes: Glaxo’s New Research Chief Loves Big Pharma. Now He Has To Fix It
"What, exactly, is this meeting for?” It might seem an odd, even brusque question, especially when asked to the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company by a recently hired employee. But it’s how Hal Barron, the new chief scientific officer of GlaxoSmithKline, likes to kick off meetings, even when he is meeting his boss, Glaxo chief executive Emma Walmsley. (Herper, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Pfizer To Build New Facility, Add 450 Jobs In Michigan
Drugmaker Pfizer Inc. plans to expand manufacturing in Michigan and add 450 jobs under an incentives deal approved Tuesday by the state’s economic development arm. The company is expected to spend $465 million building a new facility in Portage near Kalamazoo, with production starting in 2024. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board approved an $11.5 million package, including $10.5 million in tax incentives and a $1 million grant for the creation of 450 qualified new jobs. (Eggert, 7/24)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Walmart's Drug Program Is Often Cheaper For Many Medicare Patients: Report
Many Medicare patients could find that Walmart's $4 generic prescription drug program is cheaper than their own health insurance plan, according to a Yale School of Medicine study published on Tuesday (July 24). The authors of the study analyzed Medicare prescription drug plan data from June 2017 to determine out-of-pocket costs for the lowest priced dose of every drug on 622 different Medicare drug plans and 1,533 different health insurance plans known as Medicare Advantage. (Clark, 7/24)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: When Insurers Drop Medications For Cheap Alternatives, The Effects Can Be Devastating For Some Patients
Hundreds of drugs have been dropped from insurers’ lists of covered medications in favor of cheaper alternatives, such as a new generic or a competing brand offered at a steep discount. Pricey drugs that remain on insurers’ formularies often can be had only after patients try cheaper ones and can prove they aren’t working as well, a process called step therapy. (Gantz, 7/18)

Columbus Dispatch: Report On Pharmacy Middleman Pricing To Stay Secret - For Now
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jenifer French asked for the delay to allow CVS Caremark time to identify information in the 51-page report that it considers proprietary and believes should be redacted before the report is released to the public and lawmakers. ...Instead, she ordered Medicaid and CVS officials back to court on July 25 after they’ve had a chance to discuss the concerns. (Candisky and Sullivan, 7/17)

WBUR: Biotech Companies Put Their Cash Behind Capuano In Race Against Pressley
Biotechnology firms have a clear favorite in the race to represent industry hub Kendall Square and surrounding communities in Congress: They like the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano. Defending his seat against a fellow Democrat, At-Large Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, Capuano has received donations from the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council's political action committee, and PACs affiliated with more than a dozen life sciences companies: AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Eli Lilly, EMD Serono, Emergent BioSolutions, Genentech, Merck, Novartis, Novocure, Sanofi, Shire, Thermo Fisher and Vertex. (Borchers, 7/17)