Updates

Patients Struggle With High Drug Prices

Dec 31, 2015

Recent treatments for hepatitis C, cancer and multiple sclerosis that cost from $50,000 annually to well over $100,000 helped drive up total U.S. prescription-drug spending 12.2% in 2014, five times the prior year’s growth rate, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. High drug prices can translate to patient costs of thousands of dollars a year. Out-of-pocket prescription-drug costs rose 2.7% in 2014, according to CMS. Read More

Drug pricing will continue to loom large in 2016

Dec 28, 2015

Of all the health care issues that loomed large this past year, none was more controversial — and compelling — than pharmaceutical pricing. Wall Street may have cheered the added revenue, but pricing strategies were increasingly under attack. Poll after poll found most Americans believe prices are too high. And more lawmakers — and presidential candidates — are listening. Read More

CMS Introduces Medicare Drug Spending Dashboard

Dec 22, 2015

This afternoon, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services took an important step in the drug pricing conversation by introducing a tool that will increase transparency. To develop realistic market-based solutions to unsustainable drug prices requires that everyone focus on value and transparency in drug pricing, and this latest effort from CMS is a positive step.” Read More

Prime Therapeutics Joins the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing

Dec 21, 2015

Prime Therapeutics LLC (Prime), an independent pharmacy benefit manager overseeing pharmacy benefits for health plans, employers, and government programs including Medicare and Medicaid, recently joined the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP). The coalition is a broad-based organization committed to raising awareness about high drug prices and advancing positive, market-oriented solutions to the affordability crisis caused by escalating drug prices. Read More

Rx Pricing – A Year in Review

Dec 17, 2015

Drug pricing has been a hot topic in 2015 — and what a year it has been! As… Read More

How Pfizer Set the Cost of Its New Drug at $9,850 a Month

Dec 9, 2015

Pfizer’s multistep pricing process shows drugmakers don’t just pick a lofty figure out of the air. At the same time, its process yielded a price that bore little relation to the drug industry’s oft-cited justification for its prices, the cost of research and development. Instead, the price that emerged was largely based on a complex analysis of the need for a new drug with this one’s particular set of benefits and risks, potential competing drugs, the sentiments of cancer doctors and a shrewd assessment of how health plans were likely to treat the product. Read More

Senate Committee Examines Drug Pricing Strategies

Dec 9, 2015

“For a breakthrough medication to be effective, it needs to be affordable, yet drug makers fail time and time again to abide by this fundamental principle. The Campaign commends the Senate Special Committee on Aging for challenging the pharmaceutical industry on the irresponsible pricing strategies that deliberately deny patients and consumers access to affordable treatments." Read More

What They Are Saying: Candidates Talk Rx Pricing on the Campaign Trail

Dec 4, 2015

Candidates on both sides of the aisle are talking about the harmful impact price tags have on Americans and the facts have been proven time after time: prescription drugs prices are simply out of control. Read More

Part D Enrollees Who Take Specialty Drugs Will See Out-of-Pocket Costs Rise in 2016

Dec 3, 2015

“This latest analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation paints a troubling picture for the future of the Medicare Part D program and beneficiaries who rely on access to affordable treatments." Read More

Health Spending in U.S. Topped $3 Trillion Last Year

Dec 2, 2015

“This rapid increase, which was the highest rate since 2002, was in part due to the introduction of new drug treatments for hepatitis C, as well as of those used to treat cancer and multiple sclerosis,” the administration said. The new treatments for hepatitis C, which are highly effective, accounted for $11.3 billion in new spending. Read More

Senators Release Report on Hepatitis C Drug Pricing

Dec 1, 2015

“As we all focus on how to ensure patients get the medications they need at an affordable price, we commend Senators Wyden and Grassley for undertaking this important investigation and for raising awareness around this rapidly growing issue for both sides of the aisle." Read More

Daraprim Still Priced 2,500% Higher Than Original Price

Nov 30, 2015

"While the adjusted price of Daraprim is an improvement from its original price tag, it is clear that this critical treatment is still priced far out of reach for many Americans. This same medication can be purchased overseas for $.66 a pill -- a fraction of what it costs in the U.S. -- which makes us question how the pharmaceutical industry can justify their outrageous and harmful pricing strategies." Read More