STAT

JUNE 12, 2024

This is Part 1 of “Behind the Counter,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex world of patents and drug pricing. Prescription drug costs are remarkably higher in the United States than in other countries, so it’s no surprise that more than half of U.S.

Drug Pricing 329

Drug Pricing 329

STAT

JANUARY 18, 2024

WASHINGTON — Senate health committee chair Bernie Sanders has taken a step toward subpoenaing the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck related to an investigation into high drug prices in the United States, he announced Thursday. Read the rest…

Drug Pricing 357

Drug Pricing 357

STAT

JANUARY 25, 2024

Bernie Sanders on Thursday jabbed the CEO of Merck for telling congressional staff that he didn’t have the expertise to testify at a Senate hearing on prescription drug prices because he’s a tax attorney.

Drug Pricing 363

Drug Pricing 363

STAT

JANUARY 31, 2024

— Wednesday was the first time that a federal judge asked questions in-person of drug industry lawyers who are trying to stop Medicare from negotiating drug prices. WILMINGTON, Del. It didn’t go well for them.

Drug Pricing 363

Drug Pricing 363

STAT

MARCH 6, 2024

WASHINGTON — President Biden wants to more than double the size of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program and will preview the plan in his State of the Union address, the White House announced Wednesday.

Drug Pricing 357

Drug Pricing 357

STAT

SEPTEMBER 16, 2024

WASHINGTON — Shawn Bishop, the Democratic staffer who drafted much of the drug pricing portion of the Inflation Reduction Act, is leaving the Senate Finance Committee next month, according to five sources familiar with the departure.        Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 321

Drug Pricing 321

STAT

SEPTEMBER 26, 2024

Biden administration officials have abandoned their own proposal to require drug companies to disclose the prices and research costs of drugs that are driving up spending in state Medicaid programs.

Drug Pricing 348

Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 348

STAT

JULY 30, 2024

WASHINGTON — The deadline for announcing how much Medicare lowered drug prices in the first year of negotiation is Sept. In 2022, Democrats directed Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The first 10 drugs selected for negotiation accounted for $3.4

Drug Pricing 283

Drug Pricing 283

STAT

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court ruled that three organizations, including the brand drug lobby PhRMA, can challenge Medicare’s drug price negotiation program in a lower court based in Texas. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 299

Drug Pricing 299

STAT

JULY 15, 2024

Medicare’s new guidelines cover how it will conduct the drug price negotiations authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act. It will also deter companies from doing research on existing medicines to create improved versions that are more effective and have fewer side effects.

Drug Pricing 304

Drug Pricing Hospitals 304

STAT

AUGUST 15, 2024

Almost exactly two years ago, the Inflation Reduction Act was signed into law, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for the first time. Today, the agency announced how much it lowered the costs for 10 drugs in the first year of negotiation.   Sign up  to get our Morning Rounds newsletter in your inbox.

Drug Pricing 278

Drug Pricing 278

STAT

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

WASHINGTON — Two Republican lawmakers who introduced legislation to water down the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare drug price negotiation program managed to find themselves a Democratic co-sponsor — even though every single Democrat in Congress in 2022 voted for the legislation.

Drug Pricing 336

Drug Pricing 336

STAT

MAY 6, 2024

The changing landscape of drug pricing policy in the U.S. Drug policy changes are being influenced by perceptions of the value of novel medicines relative to their budgetary impacts, with some believing that many medicines may not be worth their cost, creating an important role for health technology assessments (HTA).

Drug Pricing 359

Drug Pricing 359

STAT

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — A key Senate panel announced it will consider more policies to regulate pharmacy middlemen and ensure patients aren’t paying more than insurers do for medications. The package crafted by Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) is slated to be marked up on Nov.

Packaging 351

Packaging Drug Pricing 351

STAT

AUGUST 15, 2024

Are pharma companies still fearful of the Inflation Reduction Act? Will Lykos’ FDA rejection and recent publication retractions pull down the entire psychedelics industry? And what would you name a commercial psychotherapy treatment? We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD.”

Drug Pricing 271

Drug Pricing 271

STAT

APRIL 14, 2025

Dozens of state attorneys general are urging Congress to pass a law prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers from simultaneously owning pharmacies, arguing such a move would boost competition and create more affordable prescription drug prices for Americans.

Health Care Clinics 337

Health Care Clinics Drug Pricing 337

STAT

MARCH 20, 2024

WASHINGTON — Medicare will likely choose the obesity drug semaglutide for price negotiation “within the next few years,” according to a new analysis from nonpartisan congressional budget experts.

Drug Pricing 338

Drug Pricing Diabetes 338

STAT

JULY 5, 2024

WASHINGTON — A federal judge ruled against Boehringer Ingelheim’s challenge to the new Medicare drug price negotiation program, handing the pharmaceutical industry its latest in a string of legal losses. The company had argued before the U.S.

Drug Pricing 335

Drug Pricing Diabetes 335

STAT

AUGUST 8, 2024

Chamber of Commerce lawsuit challenging Democrats’ drug pricing law. The decision is yet another loss for the pharmaceutical industry and its allies, which have filed lawsuits across the country arguing that the Inflation Reduction Act, which created a drug price negotiation program in Medicare , is unconstitutional.

Drug Pricing 320

Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 320

STAT

JANUARY 26, 2024

The decision by the executives came after a public pressure campaign by Sanders to get the two executives and Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner to testify about why prices for their drugs are higher in the United States than in other countries.

Drug Pricing 327

Drug Pricing 327

STAT

JULY 22, 2024

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating because that oh-so familiar routine of online meetings, phone calls, and deadlines has predictably returned. But what can you do? The world, such as it is, continues to spin.

Drug Pricing 308

Drug Pricing 308

STAT

JULY 9, 2024

In negotiations over drug pricing legislation, he opposed progressives’ most aggressive plans. Andy Kim, has refused corporate PAC funds, and is a true believer in Democrats’ more ambitious drug pricing plans. The industry is likely to lose a friend if Menendez doesn’t return to Congress next year.

Drug Pricing 361

Drug Pricing 361

PharmaVoice

JANUARY 15, 2025

CMS is expected to publish up to 15 drugs for the second cycle of the program by Feb. 1, and these are some of the drugs most likely to make the list.

Drug Pricing 259

Drug Pricing 259

STAT

OCTOBER 21, 2024

30, five gave to Democratic candidates, even though Democratic lawmakers passed the most aggressive drug pricing reform in decades in 2022.    But of the six executives who donated to individual candidates between July 1 and Sept.   Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 361

Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 361

STAT

DECEMBER 23, 2024

WASHINGTON — Three large pharmaceutical companies left the brand-drug lobby PhRMA after the passage of Democrats’ drug pricing law in 2022. Following the exits, the organization collected $100 million less in annual membership dues, new tax filings show. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 299

Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 299

STAT

JANUARY 22, 2024

So Sachs began reading about the drug, Xtandi , and found the annual list price at the time was about $156,000, or $427 a day, for men with commercial health insurance. In the fall of 2020, Robert Sachs was prescribed a medication to treat prostate cancer that had metastasized into some of his bones.

Drug Pricing 351

Drug Pricing 351

STAT

AUGUST 5, 2024

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed by Democrats in 2022, made several changes to Medicare’s drug benefit, known as Medicare Part D. All were aimed at lowering drug prices and drug costs for both seniors and the federal government.

Drug Pricing 294

Drug Pricing 294

STAT

JULY 29, 2024

Through the creation of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC), Cuban aims to reduce drug prices and also drug shortages. Mark Cuban, the wildly successful entrepreneur and NBA owner, has committed himself to solving these two problems. Read the rest…

Drug Pricing 317

Drug Pricing 317

STAT

SEPTEMBER 23, 2024

As the Hatch-Waxman Act approaches its 40th anniversary, it’s time to critically examine its legacy and what it actually gave us: the  highest drug prices in the world. One of the main objectives of the Hatch-Waxman Act was to bring more generic drugs into the market.

Drug Pricing 359

Drug Pricing 359

STAT

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024

filed a lawsuit on Tuesday demanding that a recent Federal Trade Commission report accusing industry middlemen of raising drug prices be vacated. Express Scripts, one of the largest pharmacy benefit managers in the U.S.,

Independent Pharmacies 359

Independent Pharmacies Drug Pricing 359

STAT

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

This is Part 4 of “ Behind the Counter ,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex world of patents and drug pricing. But in 1984, a little-known law put an end to that waiting period and paved the way for the large quantity of generic drugs available today.

Drug Pricing 289

Drug Pricing 289

STAT

AUGUST 12, 2024

” A report from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued on July 23, 2024, was almost as scathing, finding that PBMs “inflate prescription drug costs and interfere with patient care for their own financial benefit.” That view is wrong. Read the rest…

Drug Pricing 333

Drug Pricing 333

STAT

AUGUST 8, 2024

This is Part 3 of “Behind the Counter,” an in-depth video series demystifying the complex world of patents and drug pricing. Discovering a new drug is a big win for a pharmaceutical company, but selling it for lots of money with no competition? The cherry on top. Read the rest…

Drug Pricing 318

Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 318

STAT

APRIL 10, 2024

In addition, the notable price hike also highlights a question about the extent to which penalties that are assessed by Medicaid and Medicare — which are levied for raising drug prices above inflation — are sometimes considered to be a cost of doing business. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 360

Drug Pricing 360

STAT

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

Extending patent protection doesn’t just stretch a drug’s profits — in some cases, doing so can lead to its most significant revenue period, according to a recent analysis published by the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, or I-MAK, a nonprofit advocating for drug pricing reforms.

Drug Pricing 354

Drug Pricing Biosimilars Drug Development 354

STAT

DECEMBER 5, 2023

At first blush, it sounds like the model popularized by Mark Cuban of Shark Tank fame, whose own drug program claims to save employers up to 60% compared with conventional arrangements.

Drug Pricing 363

Drug Pricing 363

STAT

AUGUST 16, 2024

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the Maximum Fair Prices (MFPs) for the first 10 drugs subject to negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act. This is an important moment in prescription drug pricing policy.

Drug Pricing 278

Drug Pricing Diabetes 278