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. He asked Catherine Stetson, who represents AstraZeneca, multiple times to explain what property the company would lose due to Medicare price negotiation.

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Drug Pricing 348

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FEBRUARY 1, 2024

WASHINGTON  — The Biden administration is making its opening offers to pharmaceutical companies in its brand-new Medicare drug price negotiation program on Thursday, administration officials said. The Biden administration will publish the final prices by Sept. And that’s about all they said.

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STAT

APRIL 10, 2024

In an era when huge price hikes for prescription drugs are almost guaranteed to draw criticism, is there any circumstance when a 486% increase for a medicine might appear to be justified? A small company called Harrow argues that it can make the case for an injectable eye treatment that has been used to combat several serious conditions.

Drug Pricing 306

Drug Pricing 306

STAT

APRIL 1, 2024

The net prices that health plans paid for medicines — after subtracting rebates, discounts, and fees — fell by 2.8% in last year’s fourth quarter, the largest decline ever measured by SSR Health, a research firm that tracks the pharmaceutical industry and its pricing trends.

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Biosimilars 287

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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. The price of a four-week supply of Wegovy and its GLP-1 competitor Zepbound, ranges from about $1,100 to $1,300.

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Drug Pricing Diabetes 292

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 345

STAT

SEPTEMBER 7, 2023

Ever since Medicare was given power to negotiate prices for certain medicines, the pharmaceutical industry has argued the move will end badly for patients. Beyond complaining about price controls and unconstitutional mandates, the key message aimed at the American public has been that innovation will suffer.

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Drug Pricing 334

STAT

APRIL 4, 2024

The prices charged by hospitals are exorbitant and rising. Here’s just the tip of the iceberg: $722.50 for a nurse to push a drug into an IV. 21,500 for ten stitches. Private health insurance premiums paid by working age adults are rising rapidly.

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Hospitals 307

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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 354

Drug Pricing 354

STAT

APRIL 17, 2024

Silicon Valley venture funds Andreessen Horowitz and Yosemite, the cancer-focused fund launched by Steve Jobs’ son Reed Jobs , are backing the small but growing group of companies eager to sift through complex pricing data to help patients and employers and payers looking to strike better deals.

Hospitals 273

Hospitals 273

STAT

DECEMBER 22, 2023

WASHINGTON — Venture capitalists are still pouring money into drug research in spite of Medicare’s new power to negotiate drug prices, according to Congress’ nonpartisan budget experts. The Inflation Reduction Act includes two measures that directly lower drug prices.

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Drug Pricing Biosimilars 242

STAT

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

Medicare beneficiaries taking those drugs would see their share of the cost based on the net price, rather than the list price, under the new proposal. The most impactful proposal would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to designate a list of so-called discounted drugs. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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Packaging Drug Pricing 318

STAT

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act brings a new era to drug pricing in the United States. After decades of being an outlier, it now joins every other developed nation in having the federal government engaged in negotiating drug pricing. Read the rest…

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Drug Pricing 218

STAT

MARCH 1, 2024

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Delaware on Friday ruled against AstraZeneca in a case challenging the constitutionality of Medicare’s new drug price negotiation program. Colm Connolly, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Delaware, ruled against the company on all its major arguments.

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Drug Pricing 255

STAT

JANUARY 8, 2024

are investigating the prices charged by four large drug companies for their asthma inhalers, arguing the devices unfairly cost Americans considerably more than what consumers pay in other countries. Several U.S. lawmakers including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) For instance, GSK charges $319 for Advair HFA in the U.S.,

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Drug Pricing 313

STAT

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

The federal government is moving forward with a spate of proposals that will force hospitals to be better about publishing the prices they charge health insurers and patients. Federal law has required hospitals to post their prices since 2021. But the pricing information is still tough to find and confusing to interpret.

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Hospitals 267

STAT

MARCH 29, 2024

The study, led by Melissa Barber, a Yale postdoctoral fellow, and conducted in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders, a nonprofit medical organization working in low-resource and emergency settings, found that making a generic vial of insulin could cost $61 to $111 per year — 97% less than  than the current market price in the U.S.,

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Diabetes Drug Pricing 333

STAT

DECEMBER 11, 2023

During 2022, drugmakers substantially raised prices on eight widely used medicines without any new clinical evidence to justify the increases, leading patients and health insurers in the U.S. AbbVie raised the wholesale price by 7.1%. to spend an additional $1.2 billion last year, according to a new report.

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Drug Pricing 338

STAT

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

After the recent announcement of the first 10 drugs selected for Medicare price negotiation, much has been discussed about the drugs that were selected and the magnitude of price decreases that can be achieved. Less attention has been given to what this all means for Medicare beneficiaries. 1, 2024, and will take effect Jan.

Drug Pricing 286

Drug Pricing 286

STAT

MARCH 13, 2024

Prices are both high and highly variable as well as difficult to observe. In the courses I teach, I expound on the importance of complete and accurate information about prices and quality in well-functioning markets. Yet in the U.S. health care market, this often isn’t the case. I’m an economics professor.

Grocery Stores 228

Grocery Stores Hospitals 228

STAT

SEPTEMBER 14, 2023

The diagnostics company Cepheid and the price of its tuberculosis test, GeneXpert. But in a scathing YouTube video posted Tuesday, Green argued the price is prohibitive for patients in lower-income countries. But in a scathing YouTube video posted Tuesday, Green argued the price is prohibitive for patients in lower-income countries.

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FEBRUARY 8, 2024

LONDON — Medicare’s first-ever drug pricing negotiations are officially underway. On Thursday, at a press briefing at which they presented their 2023 earnings, AstraZeneca executives also played coy about the bargaining over the price of the company’s diabetes drug Farxiga.  

Drug Pricing 241

Drug Pricing Diabetes 241

STAT

MARCH 16, 2023

Following the lead of its rivals, Sanofi will cut the price of its most widely prescribed insulin in the U.S. The change comes after Eli Lilly and then Novo Nordisk announced plans this month to reduce list prices for some of their own insulin products by similar amounts. The moves will go into effect on Jan.

Drug Pricing 246

Drug Pricing 246

STAT

OCTOBER 31, 2023

As Medicare prepares to negotiate prices for its first batch of medicines, an advocacy group argues the agency should factor in controversial patent maneuvers for one drug that will have cost the program nearly $2 billion in additional spending by 2026.

Drug Pricing 272

Drug Pricing 272

STAT

JULY 24, 2023

You don’t have to be an economist to understand the law of demand: The higher the price, the less likely a customer is to buy a product. It’s not always the customer who decides that the price is too high. This, of course, limits how much companies can charge. Often, it’s the insurer. Read the rest…

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Drug Pricing 236

STAT

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Drug pricing experts, however, say CVS’ CostVantage program appears designed to pad CVS’ own bottom line rather than make drugs cheaper for patients and employers.

Drug Pricing 353

Drug Pricing 353

STAT

MAY 8, 2023

EQRx, a company that aimed to lower drug prices by introducing inexpensive me-too medicines, said Tuesday that it has abandoned that plan and is laying off nearly 60% of its workforce. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

Drug Pricing 277

Drug Pricing Hospitals 277

STAT

APRIL 25, 2024

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is investigating the prices Novo Nordisk charges for its blockbuster medications, Ozempic and Wegovy, which are highly effective at treating diabetes and obesity but carry steep price tags, The New York Times writes. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), per package.

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Packaging Diabetes 209

STAT

MARCH 10, 2023

By law, Medicare will have to take a medication’s efficacy and its research and development costs into account when it starts to negotiate drug prices — but recent research shows pharma companies ignore those factors when they pick prices for their products. But neither factor has much effect, the studies concluded.

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Drug Pricing 221

STAT

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

In a highly unusual move, Unitaid has publicly criticized Johnson & Johnson over its pricing and patenting policies for a key drug used to combat tuberculosis. The move lowered the cost of the pill to $130 for a six-month course of treatment, a 55% drop from the previous price of $289.

Drug Pricing 240

Drug Pricing 240

STAT

AUGUST 24, 2023

At the start and halfway points of each year, many pharmaceutical companies raise drug prices to bolster revenue and reportedly fund new research. “It’s increasing prices on their existing portfolio.” Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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Drug Pricing Pharmaceutical Companies Pharmaceutical Companies 199

STAT

FEBRUARY 1, 2024

So my enterprising colleague John Wilkerson trekked up to Wilmington to give you an inside view on how a key judge viewed arguments in the first court test of the new Medicare drug price negotiation program. Read the rest…

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Drug Pricing 173

STAT

APRIL 29, 2024

The pharmaceutical industry saw its reputation slip last year among patient advocacy groups thanks to growing concern about the rising prices for medicines and a lack of confidence prompted by increasing shortages, according to a new survey.

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SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

The goal is to delink the cost of inventing drugs from their prices. But Jamie Love, who heads Knowledge Ecology International, an advocacy group that focuses on pharmaceutical pricing and patents, maintains the idea has merit and urges naysayers to wait for the National Academies to issue its study. So, why prizes and not patents?

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Drug Pricing 313

STAT

OCTOBER 18, 2023

The fight over drug prices is far from over. Investors in biopharma companies, who lobbied vigorously — but unsuccessfully — against allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, are trying a new tactic to preserve their profits. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…

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Drug Pricing 214

STAT

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

Bernie Sanders’ prescription drug pricing theater. WASHINGTON — Call it Sen. The hearing, featuring Merck CEO Robert Davis, Johnson and Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato, and Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner, was designed to draw public interest, and in that respect, it worked.

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Drug Pricing 226

STAT

JANUARY 25, 2024

has filed a lawsuit alleging a new Illinois law that is designed to prevent price gouging is unconstitutional, the latest effort to push back against states attempting to lower the cost of medicines. Constitution because it penalizes generic drug companies for nationwide price hikes.

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