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.

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Drug Pricing 363

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…

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Drug Pricing 353

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.

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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.

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Drug Pricing 353

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.

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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…

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Drug Pricing 313

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

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Drug Pricing 275

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…

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Drug Pricing 289

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.

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Drug Pricing 320

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.

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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.

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Drug Pricing 271

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).

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Drug Pricing 355

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.

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Drug Pricing 326

STAT

DECEMBER 16, 2024

Passage of laws to address pharmacy middlemen has been the top priority of the pharmaceutical industry, particularly after they suffered a stinging defeat when Democrats passed their drug pricing law in 2022. The pharma industry spent millions on advertising to promote PBM legislation, and it appears it will get most of what it wanted. 

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Packaging Drug Pricing 326

STAT

JUNE 12, 2025

appeals court upheld a lower court decision to halt a controversial Minnesota law that is designed to provide transparency into prescription drug pricing. In a victory for the pharmaceutical industry, a U.S.

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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.

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Packaging Drug Pricing 345

STAT

JUNE 7, 2023

BOSTON — The drug industry has spent the past year speaking against new mechanisms that could limit how much governments or insurers pay for certain new medicines. Robert Califf, the Food and Drug Administration chief, walked on stage Wednesday and told a crowd of biotech leaders that drug costs needed fixing.

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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.

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Health Care Clinics Drug Pricing 345

STAT

JUNE 12, 2025

Why did Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fire all members of the expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines? Who are the new members that Kennedy named? And what does that all mean for the future of public health?

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Drug Pricing Vaccines 238

STAT

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

T wo months ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) moved a step closer to an idea he has championed for some time — awarding prizes, instead of patents, for inventing medicines.

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Drug Pricing 341

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Drug Pricing 359

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.

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Drug Pricing 298

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.

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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…

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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.

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Drug Pricing 345

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…

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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.

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Drug Pricing 285

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…

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Drug Pricing 306

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.

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Drug Pricing 357

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.,

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Independent Pharmacies Drug Pricing 355

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.

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Drug Pricing 284

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…

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Drug Pricing 359

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…

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Drug Pricing 323

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…

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