The Drug Pricing Impasse: Each Complex Solution To Intricate Problem Has Powerful Opponent

Modern Healthcare: The Solutions To America's Drug Cost Dilemma (And Why They Won't Happen)
[D]espite the growing political furor, the odds of significant federal action on drug costs this year or next are slim, experts say. That may surprise voters, given the torrents of rhetoric and promises from politicians. Yet the issue of how to make drugs more affordable for individual patients and society is so complex and sensitive—and drug industry opposition so formidable—that a comprehensive, politically viable approach to solving the problem has yet to emerge. (Meyer, 10/1)

Bloomberg: Patients Lose Out On Big Pharma’s Secret Rebate Merry-Go-Round 
Robyn Curtis, a staff adviser at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, has a 13-year-old daughter with diabetes. Each month, the girl’s insulin pump requires three vials of NovoLog-brand insulin, which cost $890 under her plan, Curtis says. Her daughter’s insurance has a $2,600 deductible. So Curtis was beside herself when she learned that NovoLog offers rebates -- almost always paid to insurance companies and drug-benefit managers, not patients -- that might have cut the out-of-pocket cost in half earlier this year. (Langreth, 10/5)

The Associated Press: Donors Pump Nearly $390 Million Into California Propositions
Four initiatives on this year's ballot regarding taxes, prescription prices and hospital fees account for $300 million of the total so far. That includes more than $100 million into Proposition 61, placed on the ballot by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation to limit what the state pays for prescription drugs for people insured on government-subsidized health programs to the same rated paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. More than 30 companies that belong to the industry association Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America have contributed most of the $86 million against the initiative. (Noon, 9/30)

Bloomberg: Specialty Pharma Stocks Tumble In Fear Of California's Drug Price Referendum
For pharmaceutical companies, there's more at stake on November 8 than whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton emerges victorious in the presidential election. Also to be decided in the voting booth is California's Proposition 61, a state ballot measure that would require state agencies to purchase drugs at prices close to those enjoyed by the Department of Veteran's Affairs. Recent polls performed by Field/IFS and USC/Los Angeles Times suggest the initiative, known as the California Drug Price Relief Act, is favored by voters. (Kawa, Damouni and Maloney, 9/29)

KPBS: Proposition 61, The Drug Pricing Initiative, Explained
One of the 17 statewide propositions facing California voters on the November ballot is Proposition 61, which is intended to lower prescription drug prices. Below, Impatient breaks down this initiative, which besides being one of the most complicated ballot measures, has sparked by far this year's most expensive campaign fight over an initiative. (Plevin, 9/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Proposed Ohio Drug Price Relief Act Would Not Work, Health Policy Experts Say 
The Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, a citizen-initiated statute slated for the November 2017 ballot, would require the state of Ohio to pay no more for prescription drugs than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The report from Vorys Health Care Advisors and Health Management Associates, two health policy consulting firms, concluded that would be nearly impossible to implement because what drugs the VA buys and how much they cost is unknown and drug manufacturers are unlikely to negotiate lower prices. The report was commissioned by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a group that represents pharmaceutical companies and opposes the initiative. (Borchardt, 10/3)

The Washington Post: Why EpiPens Expire So Quickly
Mylan chief executive Heather Bresch said one thing at a contentious hearing last week that should be music to the ears of people with life-threatening allergies: Her company will soon push to extend the shelf life for EpiPen. Currently, EpiPens expire 18 months from date of manufacturing. Facing criticism for the drug's rapidly rising price, Bresch said the company hopes the expiration date can be extended to a minimum of 24 months. (Johnson, 9/27)

Bloomberg: Why The $600 EpiPen Costs $69 In Britain
The EpiPen allergy shot, enmeshed in controversy because it sells for almost as much as the latest iPhone in the U.S., costs less than its leather case in Britain. The price of an EpiPen two-pack has surged to more than $600 in the U.S., sparking a political outcry. While the manufacturer, Mylan NV, says it takes home about $274, in the U.K. a similar pair of injectors costs the state-funded National Health Service 53 pounds ($69). The numbers highlight the stark differences in the way drugs are priced in the U.S. and Britain, where the government negotiates with pharmaceutical companies to limit costs. (Paton and Kresge, 9/29)

WOSU Radio: Proposal To Cap Drug Prices Appears Headed To Fall 2017 Ballot
The backers of a proposal to limit the amount the state pays for drugs for Medicaid, prisons and other state programs have won their fight to bring the plan to next year’s ballot. Secretary of State Jon Husted’s office has certified the petitions turned in by Ohioans for Fair Drug Prices, the group pushing the proposal that Ohio pay no more for drugs than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs does. (Kasler, 10/3)

Stat: Obama Extends Controversial Program For Rare Pediatric Drugs
Despite objections from his own regulators, President Barack Obama Friday signed into law a bill that will briefly extend a voucher program that rewards drug makers for rare pediatric medicines. As a result, the program will run through Dec. 31 while Congress attempts to further extend the effort for another few years. The focus will now turn to tucking such an extension into the 21st Century Cures Act, a sweeping piece of health care legislation that must still be negotiated by the House and Senate. (Silverman, 9/30)

Stat: SEC Charges Former Puma Biotech Exec With $1.1 Million In Insider Trading
In the latest instance of alleged insider trading in the pharmaceutical industry, a former Puma Biotechnology executive was charged with illegally making more than $1.1 million by taking advantage of confidential information about clinical trials for a cancer drug. (Silverman, 9/30)

Bloomberg: Valeant’s Stock Becomes (Relatively) Quiet After Wild Year
After a yearlong, up-and-down ride, shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. are enjoying a period of relative calm. Since mid-March, the stock has traded between $36.23 and $18.73, a $17.50 range that’s the smallest band for any equivalent stretch of time since Jan. 7, 2013. That followed an eight-month period during which the shares dropped 86 percent, including a 51 percent drop on March 15. (Hopkins and Renick, 10/3)

The Wall Street Journal: J&J’s Gorsky On Innovation And Drug Prices
Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, speaks to WSJ’s Laura Landro about the challenge of balancing perception against profit when it comes to drug prices. (9/29)

Stat: Does Fashion Inspired By Prescription Pills Glamorize Addiction?
The gray zip-up sweatshirt, priced at $495, is emblazoned with a mock label for prescription extended-release pills. So is the $995 dress and the shiny, orange $950 purse in the shape of a prescription pill bottle. It’s all part of a cheeky new fashion line designed by the Italian brand Moschino and sold online by Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue — and it’s generating a small torrent of online criticism from people who believe it’s in poor taste amid a raging opioid crisis that has been fueled in part by overprescribing potent painkillers. (Robbins, 10/3)