Updates

[Associated Press] STATES ASK CONGRESS TO INTERVENE ON DRUG PRICES

Oct 28, 2014

Medicaid chiefs from red and blue states are urging Congress to stem the cost of revolutionary new drugs for hepatitis C, cancer, and other diseases. Read More

SNHPA Joins Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing

Oct 27, 2014

Safety Net Hospitals for Pharmaceutical Access (SNHPA) has joined the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP), a broad-based coalition concerned about the skyrocketing cost of prescription medicines. Read More

[Time] Hospitals Furious at Cancer-Drug Price Hikes

Oct 27, 2014

Some of the nation’s hospitals are seriously ticked off at Genentech, the San Francisco biotech firm, for implementing a stealth price hike for three critical cancer drugs. Read More

Justifying After the Fact Is Not Justification

Oct 22, 2014

What the study should have asked is whether or not the price Gilead set for the therapy is appropriate for all patients–even asymptomatic patients–and whether or not such a large portion of potential societal value should accrue to one company. Read More

[Health Affairs] The $500 Billion Medicare Slowdown: A Story About Part D

Oct 21, 2014

A great deal of analysis has been published on the causes of the health care spending slowdown system-wide — including in the pages of Health Affairs. Read More

[Bloomberg] Boehringer’s New Lung Drug to Cost $96,000 a Year

Oct 20, 2014

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH priced its new treatment for a deadly lung-scarring disease at $96,000 a year, just higher than Roche Holding AG’s (ROG) competing product. Read More

[PBS NewsHour] Small group of specialty drugs could make up half of total pharmacy spending by 2018

Oct 20, 2014

Some patients are paying sky-high prices for ‘specialty medications’ when cheaper options exist, a team of researchers has found. Read More

[SF Business Times] Gilead’s $1,000-a-pill hepatitis C drug may make financial sense for prisons

Oct 20, 2014

Pricey new hepatitis C drugs, such as Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Sovaldi, may make financial sense to give to give to prisoners, one of the main groups infected with the liver-damaging virus, according to a team of Stanford University researchers. Read More

[Politico Pro] The new drug war: Health lobbies spar

Oct 15, 2014

Harvoni’s launch brought new howls about price gouging from insurers and a broad coalition of health care groups. They warn that the drugs, no matter how revolutionary, are ultimately unaffordable given the estimated 3 million Americans who may be infected with hepatitis C. Read More

[Bloomberg BNA] How Will Medicaid Plans Cover Specialty Drugs?

Oct 15, 2014

According to a recent survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, almost every state Medicaid plan is concerned about the rising cost of specialty drugs -- specifically Sovaldi. Sovaldi is a hepatitis c drug from Gilead Sciences which costs $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 for a 12-week treatment—prices which the plans have balked at. Read More

Say What? Gilead Exec Compares Rx Spending to McDonald’s Prices

Oct 15, 2014

On the day that Gilead introduced its new $94,500 hepatitis C drug, Harvoni, Gilead Vice President of Investor Relations Patrick O'Brien went into full spin mode, telling Politico (subscription required) that Harvoni is a bargain compared to Gilead's other hep C drug, the $84,000 Sovaldi. Read More

[The Morning Consult] The Gilead Effect

Oct 14, 2014

Perhaps no company has done as much as Gilead to propel the issue of high drug prices onto center stage or to lay bare the pharmaceutical industry’s approach to pricing new drugs. Read More