Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
With Little Federal Progress Being Made, States Step Up Own Efforts To Curb High Drug Prices
Stat: Different Bills To Curb Drug Prices Advance In Two States
Two different types of bills advanced through a pair of state legislatures late last week, a pointed reminder to the pharmaceutical industry that its business practices will continue to encounter significant pushback. (Silverman, 5/22)
FiercePharma: Nevada Bill Could Force Sanofi, Novo And Lilly To Reveal Their Insulin Pricing Secrets
As a variety of states weigh measures targeting pharmaceutical pricing, Nevada’s Senate has passed a tough new bill that would publicly spotlight insulin makers' price hikes and profits. Approved by the Nevada Senate on Friday, the bill would force diabetes drugmakers to disclose information on their insulin pricing, profits, costs and more, and would require the state government to publish the information publicly on the internet. (Sagonowsky, 5/22)
FiercePharma: Look Out, Pharma Marketers. California May Turn Off Speaking Fees And Ban Pharma Gifts
Pharma reps may soon have to cancel any doctor dinners they have planned in California. A state-level bill would cut off most drugmaker payments to physicians, including speaking fees for that staple of pharma marketing, the slideshow over dinner. Dinners themselves would have to be cheap, too: Per person, drugmakers could only spend $250 per year on free meals. (Staton, 5/22)
Columbus Dispatch: Broad Coalition Anchored By Drug Makers Opposes Ohio Ballot Issue
Opponents of a ballot issue aimed at lowering prescription drug prices today announced a broad coalition to fight the proposal Ohioans will see in the Nov. 7 election. The group Ohioans Against the Deceptive Rx Ballot Issue formed to oppose the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, an initiated statute that, if passed, would require the state government to pay no more for prescription drugs than the lowest price paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (Johnson, 5/23)
Columbus Dispatch: High-Powered, Bipartisan Team Lined Up To Push Drug Price Vote
The Ohio Drug Price Relief Act will have a high-profile bipartisan campaign team working to pass the ballot issue in the Nov. 7 election. Financed in part by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the act would require state agencies to pay no more for prescription drugs than the lowest price paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Supporters say that could lower prices by 40 percent or more and cause a ripple effect for Ohio consumers. (Candisky, 5/16)
Cleveland.com: Former Ohio Medicaid Directors Oppose Drug Price Ballot Issue
Three former Ohio Medicaid directors say a November ballot measure intended to lower prescription drug prices would have the opposite effect for most Ohioans. "The money's going to come from some place and this is not the way to do it," John McCarthy, former Medicaid director under Gov. John Kasich, said in a Tuesday phone call with reporters. The call was organized by opponents to the measure, Ohioans Against the Deceptive Rx Ballot Issue, which launched their campaign earlier in the day. (Borchardt, 5/23)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Medical Professionals, Business Groups Among Opponents To Ohio Drug Price Relief Act
Ohio medical professionals, veterans' groups and business interests are lining up against a statewide ballot measure promising lower prescription drug prices. Opponents to the "Ohio Drug Price Relief Act" say the proposed law would actually increase drug costs for the majority of Ohioans. (Borchardt, 5/23)
Texas Tribune: Scientists Wary As Texas Mulls Allowing Sale Of Unproven Drugs
A group of scientists and medical professionals is sounding the alarm in the final days of the Texas legislative session about a little-noticed bill that would allow manufacturers of unproven drugs to sell their products to dying patients. Supporters of House Bill 3236 by state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-College Station, say it could help incentivize drugmakers to get promising, experimental drugs onto the market and into needy patients’ hands. (Walters, 5/23)
Kaiser Health News: New York State Wants Its Prescription Drug Money Back — Or Else
New York Medicaid regulators aim to use the threat of imposing increased scrutiny of prescription drugs — such as eyeing their relative effectiveness and their profit margins — to coax additional discounts from drugmakers. The rules, signed into law in mid-April as part of the state’s budget, don’t go as far as the surcharge that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo originally sought to control the “skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs,” but they retain elements guaranteed to get under a pharmaceutical executive’s skin. (Appleby, 5/22)
