When It Comes To Transparency In Drug Price Negotiations, Experts Say Lawmakers May Be Going Too Far

FierceHealthcare: Industry Experts Weigh In On Slew Of Bills Aimed At Drug Price Transparency At Hearing 
Experts from across the healthcare system weighed in on several House bills aimed at increasing transparency in the pharmaceutical supply chain at a hearing Tuesday. Seven pieces of legislation, all of which are bipartisan, were on the slate for discussion at the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health hearing. Amid the political fervor over rising drug prices, shining a light on how prices are determined has been a key focus for policymakers. However, some in the industry warn that there may be too much of a good thing and that making all data public could undermine the goal of bringing down costs. Kristin Bass, chief policy and external affairs officer for the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), said the group backs releasing data on rebates and negotiations in “aggregate.” (Minemyer, 5/21)

CQ: House Democrats Face Questions On Drug Price Transparency Bills
Partisan tensions over measures that would require more transparency in the prescription drug supply chain emerged Tuesday as a House panel considered seven bipartisan bills. At an Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee hearing, some witnesses and panel Republicans expressed concerns to Democratic sponsors that the bills could reduce investment in drug development, hinder insurers’ efforts to secure lower drug prices, and be detrimental to patients who benefit from free samples given to their doctors. (Siddons, 5/21)

Stat: Four Of The World’s Largest Drug Companies Are Teaming With Verily. Here Is What They Get
On Tuesday morning, Verily, Alphabet’s unit focused on life sciences, announced that it had formed alliances with Novartis, Sanofi, Otsuka, and Pfizer to work on clinical trials. What are those drug giants getting out of the deal? STAT sat down with Scarlet Shore, who leads Verily’s project Baseline, to learn about the company’s vision for the clinical trial of the future. The conversation took place at CNBC’s “Healthy Returns” conference, where the partnerships were unveiled.Clinical trials have always been an obvious target for Verily as it tries to find a way to use technology to change health care. New devices can take years to develop. But right now, the process of conducting clinical trials is pockmarked with inefficiencies, requiring pharmaceutical companies and medical researchers to work with dozens of vendors while often keeping records in efficient ways — sometimes even using that least digital of formats, pen and paper. (Herper, 5/21)

The Economist: The Global Battle Over High Drug Prices
These days it is hard to find a government that is not struggling with the high price of medicines. In England, the government is fighting Vertex, a drug company, over the cost of a drug for cystic fibrosis, Orkambi. In America, diabetics have died because of the high cost of insulin. In the Netherlands, the government for a time stopped buying the immuno-oncology drug, Keytruda, because it was too expensive—even though it had helped to develop it. The list price of Orkambi is about $23,000 a month in America, and Keytruda is about $13,600 month (for as long as treatment continues). It has taken such rich-world dramas to force the unaffordability of medicines to the top of the agenda, even though poorer countries have complained about it for decades. (5/21)

Stat: Baltimore Sues J&J Unit Over 'Sham' Litigation To Extend Xtandi Patent
Angry over the high price of a prostate cancer drug, Baltimore officials have filed a lawsuit accusing a Johnson & Johnson unit of using “sham” patent litigation to delay the availability of lower-cost generics, forcing the city to spend millions of dollars unnecessarily. The lawsuit alleges that Janssen Biotech and its partner, British Technology Group, undertook a “ruse” when seeking a patent for its Xtandi medicine by failing to disclose certain information to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. And the move made it possible for the drug maker to deflect generic rivals longer than it might have otherwise. (Silverman, 5/21)

Stat: Mallinckrodt Sues CMS Over Medicaid Rebates For Acthar Gel 
In an unexpected development, Mallinckrodt (MNK) filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of illegally resetting a benchmark used for calculating rebates the company must pay to Medicaid for its most important drug, a move that could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars and hobble its R&D efforts going forward. At issue is the amount of money the company owes the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for its controversial Acthar Gel treatment, which is used primarily to treat infantile spasms and has been a poster child for the high cost of medicines. Over the past five years, the wholesale price rose 20% and a vial now costs around $39,000, making the drug an expensive proposition for public and private payers. (Silverman, 5/21)

Houston Chronicle: Unique Initiative To Lower Drug Prices Signs Manufacturer 
A pharmaceutical company working with several Houston hospitals to help supply scarce drugs has partnered with a Danish company to manufacture generic antibiotics for severe infections. Utah-based Civica announced a contract with Xellia Pharmaceutical, a Copenhagen drug company with manufacturing plants in the United States, to produce Vancomycin and Daptomycin used in the intravenous treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections. (Deam, 5/20)

Stat: Kendall Square Lab Buildings Change Hands For Reported $1.1 Billion
A trio of Kendall Square buildings that are home to big-name drug companies just traded hands for one of the steepest prices ever seen in Boston’s office market. Chicago-based investment firm Harrison Street Real Estate and Boston-based developer Bulfinch  agreed to pay the investment arm of Massachusetts Institute of Technology $1.1 billion for a long-term lease on the three buildings — 610 Main Street, 700 Main, and One Portland Street in Cambridge. (Logan, 5/20)

KSNT: High Generic Drug Prices Affecting Kansans
Generic drugs are supposed to be a cheaper alternative to name brand ones, but there has been concern some drug makers have been raising prices just to make an extra buck. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced the state is suing 20 drug manufacturers for purposely keeping the price of drugs high.Kansas joined 42 other states in claiming generic drug makers manipulated prices on more than 100 products. (Gartner, 5/21)

Bloomberg: Gilead’s $21,000 Drug Is Being Blamed For A Plateau In HIV Prevention
In 2012, Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada became the first drug ever approved to prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. It was a public health triumph that was spurred by years of government-funded research. Seven years later, efforts to prevent HIV in the U.S. have stalled. Only a fraction of U.S. patients who could benefit from the treatment -- known as PrEP -- are getting it. (Langreth and Brown, 5/17)

New Hampshire Union Leader: NH Likely To Join Lawsuit Accusing Drugmakers Of Collusion, Price-Fixing 
New Hampshire officials expect to join a multistate lawsuit against 20 drug companies, alleging that they conspired to fix prices on generic prescription drugs. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, alleges that Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of its competitors “embarked on one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States.” (Wickham, 5/18)