Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Right To Try' Bill Focuses On Sidestepping FDA, But In Reality It's Drugmakers That Are Usually Ones Saying 'No'
The New York Times: Why Can’t Dying Patients Get The Drugs They Want?
At first glance, a bill passed by the House of Representatives this week seems like the kind of thing anyone could get behind. Known as the “Right to Try” legislation, it would allow terminally ill patients access to experimental drugs without the approval of the Food and Drug Administration. But the bill and a similar one passed last summer by the Senate do little to address the main barrier that patients face in getting unapproved treatments: permission from the drug companies themselves. (Thomas, 3/23)
Politico: California's Drug Transparency Law Yields Early Surprises
California’s first-in-the-nation drug pricing transparency law is beginning to kick in — and to spur copycats, with Oregon’s governor last week signing a law that requires drug companies to disclose cost components they have long considered proprietary. Whether they’ll actually reduce prices is a crapshoot. (Colliver, 3/25)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Associated Press: Benefits Of Lobbying Evident For Small Drugmaker
Tucked in the massive congressional budget bill is a provision that props up the price Medicare pays for a handful of medications, costing taxpayers millions at a time when the Trump administration is vowing to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. Lawmakers acted after a lobbying campaign by a small Washington state pharmaceutical company called Omeros. Its main product is a drug called Omidria, used by hospitals in cataract surgery, which had recently lost a coveted Medicare reimbursement status. Individuals associated with the company also stepped up their political contributions. (3/24)
NPR: Patients' Comment About Drug Side Effects On Social Networks
When Allison Ruddick was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in October 2014, she turned to the world of hashtags. After her initial diagnosis it wasn't clear if the cancer had metastasized, so she was in for a nerve-wracking wait, she says. She wanted outside advice. "But they don't really give you a handbook, so you search kind of anywhere for answers," Ruddick says. "Social media was one of the first places I went." (Wilhelm, 3/23)
Stat: Cancer Immunotherapy Implants Get Boost By Novartis Licensing
Cancer immunotherapy — the process of activating a patient’s own immune system to fight a tumor — is a booming field in drug development. But it faces certain hurdles. Fewer than a quarter of cancer patients benefit from leading drugs in the class known as “checkpoint inhibitors.” And personalized cellular therapies are costly and complicated to create and deliver. To help solve those challenges, scientists at Harvard have developed an implantable device that would pull immune cells into the implant, train them to recognize pieces of the patient’s tumor, and then release these cells — with the end goal of creating a sustained attack against the cancer. (Cooney, 3/26)
Orlando Sentinel: Mount Dora Boy Among First To Receive Approved Gene Therapy Drug For Eye Disease
Creed [Pettit], who lives in Mount Dora, has a rare inherited genetic disease that affects the retina — a thin layer in the back of the eye — and causes progressive vision loss and can lead to blindness. ... The surgery that was about to take place was a first for the team, and their patient was among the first in the U.S. to get a gene therapy drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for an inherited genetic disease. (Miller, 3/23)
