Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
West Virginians Rally For Joe Manchin To Vote For Build Back Better Act
Public News Service: West Virginians Rally For Fair Prescription Drug Prices
West Virginians concerned about the rising cost of drug prices say they want Sen. Joe Manchin - D-W.Va. - to Vote for the Build Back Better Act, which contains provisions that would lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand Medicare coverage. West Virginia Organizer Troy Miller with the group Social Security Works explained the legislation would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of recipients. He said that could be a game changer for many grandparents who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren - and are seeing their household budgets further squeezed by rising drug prices. (Ramlagan, 12/13)
In other news about drug pricing —
NJ.com: House Democrats Make New Push To Lower Drug Prices With Report Blaming Big Pharm
House Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on their Senate counterparts in their effort to stem the price of prescription drugs, releasing a report highlighting pharmaceutical company practices that raised prices. The House Oversight Committee report, released Friday, said drug companies raise prices to increase profits and trigger bonuses for their executives and take advantage of rules imposed by congressional Republicans in 2003 that prevent Medicare negotiations to raise prices in the U.S. while lowering them elsewhere. The report also said the companies spend a lot more money on stock buybacks than research and development. (Salant, 12/14)
MarketWatch: ‘Grandma And Grandpa Aren’t Going To Figure This One Out.’ Prescription-Drug Savings Vanish In The Medicare Shuffle
For Medicare patients struggling to afford the Biogen multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, the arrival last year of far cheaper generic competitors should have been great news. Instead, it has become a cautionary tale about the Medicare prescription-drug benefit’s complexities proving costly to patients and taxpayers, drug-pricing researchers say. Looking at Medicare prescription-drug plans offering any coverage of Tecfidera or its generic equivalent as of the third quarter of this year, drug-pricing research nonprofit 46brooklyn Research found that more than half of enrollees had access only to the brand-name drug—despite the fact that multiple lower-cost generic options have been available for about a year. Even when plans did cover the generic, the cost was generally far higher than the cheapest generic’s list price, the researchers found. (Laise, 12/11)
U.S. News & World Report: The Maddeningly High Price Of Prescription Drugs
Insulin is a medical marvel, saving the lives of millions of people who would otherwise perish from diabetes. It can also be prohibitively pricey, costing up to $300 a vial for newer versions of the treatment, which diabetes patients need two to three times a month. For patients with less common ailments, the sticker shock can be much worse. Have a small child with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder that weakens muscle, causes movement problems over time and can be fatal? The good news is that the Food and Drug Administration in 2019 approved a drug, Zolgensma, a one-time curative therapy. The bad news is that it costs more than $2.1 million – and may not be covered by insurance – making it the costliest drug in the world. (Milligan, 12/9)
Also —
Stat: Moderna, Amgen Among Biotech Heavyweights Pulling Out Of JPM Event
Some of the biggest names in biotechnology, including Amgen, Moderna, and Sarepta Therapeutics, have pulled out of the upcoming J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco due to safety and travel concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to people close to the companies. Additional biopharma companies are weighing whether to do the same. J.P. Morgan, one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks and the organizer of what is the biggest conference on biotech’s calendar, has insisted that CEOs attend the January event in person, resisting calls to allow for virtual presentations. That has pushed some companies, wary of the close-quarters interactions the meeting is known for, to break with decades of tradition. (Feuerstein and Garde, 12/14)
Axios: Pharmaceutical Mergers Are Heating Up
The pharmaceutical industry is sitting on a lot of cash and is ready to make big deals. The big picture: Drug companies completed smaller deals during the pandemic and instead built up their cash reserves. But the prospect of federal legislation that could allow Medicare to set some drug prices and looming patent expirations will motivate many companies to start spending their pandemic windfalls. (Herman, 12/15)
