Facing bipartisan hostility over high
drug prices in an election year, the pharma industry's biggest trade group boosted revenue by nearly a fourth last year and spread the millions collected among hundreds of lobbyists, politicians and patient groups, new filings show.
Researchers found that increasing the use of generic drugs and bringing Canadian
drug prices in line with other countries where universal drug plans achieve better prices through bulk purchasing and negotiation, would add up to significant savings.
In addition, researchers found low market competition levels had a more pronounced correlation with
drug prices in lower - priced generic drugs compared with their higher - priced counterparts.
Put simply, I believe it's frankly hard to justify holding most individual biotech stocks for especially long periods of time because of the rather limited lifespan of their products, and the political blowback over
drug prices in the United States.
Martin Shkreli, the chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, explains the increase in
drug prices in a CNBC interview.
Bill George, CNBC contributor and former Medtronic CEO, discusses President Trump's rhetoric on prescription
drug pricing in the country.
Not exact matches
A new study published
in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that Valeant Pharmaceuticals» infamous
price hikes for a pair of heart
drugs called nitroprusside and isoproterenol — whose
prices were increased by 310 % and 720 %, respectively — had significant downstream effects on patient care.
By contrast, while the cost of older, branded pharmaceuticals continue to rise and contribute to increased spending, when discounting is considered,
prices of these
drugs increased, on average, 2.8 %
in 2015, the lowest growth rate
in years.
May 1 - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi will cut the net
price of their expensive cholesterol
drug for Express Scripts customers
in exchange for greater patient access, with some savings to be shared with consumers, the companies said on Tuesday.
However... «if Amazon were successful
in changing the brand
pricing model to be based on «net»
price versus the current gross model, we estimate a portion of rebates and other supply chain discounts currently being retained by plan sponsors, PBMs, and to a lesser degree
drug distributors could pass back to consumers.»
«What this shows is that increased competition among manufacturers, the aggressive negotiations by pharmacy benefits managers, and to some extent the significant public discussion about
drug pricing and
prices have all contributed to a relatively modest level of growth
in 2015,» says Murray Aitken, Executive Director of the IMS Institute.
The
drug at the heart of four lawsuits
in New Jersey is insulin — «a century - old medicine that for most of its history cost $ 15 or less,» write Barrett and Langreth, but «whose list
price has risen more than 270 percent over the past decade.»
But the
drug's
price isn't the scariest revelation
in the BW article.
Spending on new
drugs for those diseases is expected to rise 7 %
in 2018, and it's less due to
price hikes as it is for the high
prices associated with these specialty therapies.
Mylan No. 2 targeted
in massive generic
drug price collusion probe.
Rajiv Malik, president and executive director at EpiPen maker Mylan (essentially the company's number two exec), has been named
in a wide - ranging civil suit alleging
drug price collusion by numerous prominent generic
drug makers.
He first gained notoriety back
in September, after raising the
price of a life - saving AIDS
drug from $ 13.50 to $ 750 a pill.
Soliris's
price can run as high as $ 700,000 a year, with the
drug accounting for the bulk of Alexion's $ 3 billion
in 2016 sales.
Shkreli's basic modus operandi
in the biopharma sphere was to take niche
drugs in treatment spaces where U.S. patients have few options (although those medicines may very well have been approved and available
in other countries) and bring them to market, after which he'd maintain carte blanche on the products»
prices.
None of these
pricing and business practices are unique to Shkreli, who has run relatively minor organizations
in the
drug making world.
While we wait to see how much Newfoundland is able to extract, note that Ottawa offered two other similarly vague compensation deals to get CETA through: One on
drug prices, tied to a lengthening of patent protection, and another to the dairy industry as protection against an increase
in duty - free European cheese.
And within a span of six weeks this fall, Hillary Clinton caused a drop
in biotech stocks with a tweet calling for greater regulation of
drug prices, then single - handedly tanked stocks of private - corrections companies when she tweeted about prison reform.
For instance, during a dinner with Republican senators Monday, Trump reportedly brought up selling insurance across state lines — one of the priorities for which he advocated
in the campaign — and bringing down
drug prices.
With its traditional insulin treatments
in the firing line due to U.S.
price pressure, Novo Nordisk is pinning hopes for growth on new obesity
drugs and a once - weekly injection and tablet version of its semaglutide
drug.
But before his arrest, he said he'd use KaloBios as a vehicle to nab another niche
drug, this time for treatment of the parasitic infection Chagas disease, and dramatically increase its
price to the $ 60,000 to $ 100,000 range after helping it win FDA approval (the
drug is approved
in other countries and is provided to patients
in the U.S. on a special and selective basis).
To Wells Fargo analysts however, the bonuses seem insensitive
in light of the company's recent history with
drug price gouging allegations.
«Valeant has been appropriately criticized for substantially raising the
prices of certain off - patent prescription
drugs suddenly and without apparent justification,» said Ackman
in his opening statement.
In September, the pair sent a letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli after he jacked up the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat malaria and parasitic infections in patients with weakened immune systems, from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per pil
In September, the pair sent a letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli after he jacked up the
price of Daraprim, a
drug used to treat malaria and parasitic infections
in patients with weakened immune systems, from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per pil
in patients with weakened immune systems, from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per pill.
Activist hedge fund investor and recent Valeant Pharmaceuticals (vrx) board appointee Bill Ackman on Wednesday slammed the company's steep
drug price hikes
in testimony before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, going so far as to say the cost bumps «contributed to healthcare inflation and called into question the company's commitment to the patients it serves.»
The Canadian drugmaker has faced intense political and investor scrutiny
in the past year for its steep
drug price increases and unorthodox use of a specialty pharmacy.
Martin Shkreli, unaffectionately known as the «pharma bro» — and infamous for his decision to hike the list
price of Daraprim, a
drug used by HIV / AIDS and cancer patients to combat infections, by more than 5,000 %
in 2015 under his former company Turing Pharmaceuticals — was convicted on three criminal securities fraud and conspiracy charges by a Brooklyn jury on Friday.
Over
in the House of Representatives, Democrats have also been hot on the tail of pharmaceutical companies that have jacked up the
prices of some of their
drugs, though they've making less headway than their Senate bipartisan counterparts.
Sanders and Cummings also sent a similar letter to Valeant back
in August, asking for more details about how they
priced two heart
drugs, Isuprel and Nitropress.
In 2014, she revealed the agonizing decision - making behind Compassionate Use of unapproved drugs, and in 2016, she reported extensively on drug pricing controversies and the impact of politics on development of new medicine
In 2014, she revealed the agonizing decision - making behind Compassionate Use of unapproved
drugs, and
in 2016, she reported extensively on drug pricing controversies and the impact of politics on development of new medicine
in 2016, she reported extensively on
drug pricing controversies and the impact of politics on development of new medicines.
Even so, when such wonder
drugs are
priced in the stratosphere, they can make the entire healthcare delivery system unsustainable.
Walgreens had forecast that the
prices of generic
drugs would fall — only to realize that
in fact they were rising.
Biogen is among companies that have been singled out for criticism
in recent months; the Wall Street Journal called out the company for hiking the
price of MS
drug Avonex — 21 times, and at an annual average rate of 16 % — over the past decade.
Express Scripts is one of the three massive PBMs that help negotiate lower
prices for prescription
drugs in the form of rebates on behalf of health plans.
Lately pharma execs have been taking yet another volley of criticism over
drug -
pricing practices from Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio — and plenty of others — without offering much
in the way of a defense.
Trump responded to Frazier's resignation with angry tweets, calling Merck a leader
in high prescription -
drug prices and
in moving jobs overseas.
«If we bring forward innovative
drugs that make a difference
in the lives of patients, they'll continue to get attractive
pricing,» he says, noting Biogen's work on potential breakthrough Alzheimer's and (additional) multiple sclerosis meds.
However analysts point to a bounce
in Teva's shares over the past four months and a slowing
in the rate of decline of U.S. generic
drug prices as bright spots.
In outcome - based
pricing,
drug companies will know that payment is coming if the treatment works, and that means more incentive to develop new cures and to find new applications for existing
drugs.
The U.S. filed its first charges
in a generic
drug price - fixing probe on Wednesday, according to a report.
As lawmakers and the public scrutinize dramatic
price increases for other old
drugs — most recently with the Mylan - owned EpiPen, which saw its cost go up by 500 %
in the past nine years — the next flash point may be insulin, a
drug both ubiquitous and complicated.
It is also under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Attorney's offices
in Massachusetts and New York, as well as Congress, as part of their probes into
price hikes for certain
drugs.
In fact, some experts expected that the Novartis would
price its
drug even higher than $ 475,000.
The
drug may soon find a wider market if it can be shown effective
in treating lymphoma and other blood cancers, and the
price for those indications may well be different, based on their if value story.
Another bright spot could be the slowing
in the decline of U.S. generic
drug prices, according to report from Credit Suisse, citing data from health information company IQVIA.
Trump appears to be simultaneously criticizing inversion mergers that shift
drug companies» tax domiciles overseas, pharma's tactic of using manufacturing plants
in European, Asian, and African countries, and high
drug prices.