Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'Time To Act Is Now': Report Recommends Government Actions To Lower Drug Costs
The New York Times: To Cut Drug Prices, Academy Of Sciences Tells The Government To Negotiate With Manufacturers
The National Academy of Sciences called Thursday for sweeping changes in the pricing, sale and promotion of prescription drugs to make lifesaving treatments more affordable without discouraging the development of new medicines. The federal government should negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, the academy said, an idea pushed by Democrats for years, embraced by President Trump during the 2016 campaign, but opposed by congressional Republicans. The government, it said, should also deny tax deductions for drug advertising aimed at consumers and set annual limits on out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries. (Pear, 11/30)
Bloomberg: U.S. Government Should Negotiate Drug Prices, Adviser Group Says
The U.S. government should use its heft to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, according to a group of independent experts who advise the nation on science and medicine. Congress should authorize the government to use its purchasing power to get better deals on drugs it buys through Medicare, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine said in a report Thursday. The group also suggested the U.S. discourage direct-to-consumer ads for prescription medications. (Edney, 11/30)
NPR: Report: Here's What The Feds Can Do To Cut Drug Prices
Drug prices are too high, and we had better do something about it. That is the nutshell conclusion of a 201-page report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. "High and increasing costs of prescription drugs coupled with the broader trends in overall medical expenditures, which now equals 18 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, are unsustainable to society as a whole," says Norman Augustine, the former CEO of defense contractor Lockheed Martin and the chair of the committee that conducted the study released Thursday. (Kodjak, 11/30)
Los Angeles Times: National Science Panel Calls For Aggressive Steps To Control Drug Prices
The U.S. must take urgent steps to rein in the out-of-control cost of prescription drugs, including aggressive government intervention to negotiate lower prices for American patients, a panel of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommended Thursday in a sweeping new report on pharmaceutical pricing. (Levey, 11/30)
Stat: 8 Ways To Lower Drug Prices, But National Academies Says 'the Time To Act Is Now'
If the U.S. wants to effectively combat high drug costs and make medicines affordable, the federal government needs to take several aggressive, if controversial steps, according to a sweeping and ambitious report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. ...“In the end, drugs that are not affordable are of little value and drugs that do not exist are of no value. … Each month of delay in implementing important reforms adds another month of hampered access to medicines,” the panel wrote in its report. “… The time to act is now.” (Silverman, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare: Policy Reforms Needed To Lower Drug Prices
Access to affordable medicine is an unmet public health imperative, according to a new report that recommended government drug price negotiation, competition reform and financial transparency to alleviate the issue. The report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlined several potential paths to more affordable drugs through various policy reforms. They range from consolidating the government's purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices with manufacturers, closing loopholes in the regulatory framework that block competition and mandating pharmaceutical price transparency. (Kacik, 11/30)
