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Saturday, June 29, 2024

PhRMA claims price negotiations raise costs and that drug patents lower them.

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... After a series of decisive court losses, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be taking its fight against Medicare drug price negotiations directly to the people"and the White House is not impressed.

This week, the high-powered industry group PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) released two eye-catching attacks on federal efforts to lower America's singularly astronomical drug prices. In a press release Tuesday, PhRMA announced an analysis suggesting that the Medicare drug price negotiations"part of the Biden administration's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act"could actually cost some seniors and people with disabilities slightly more in out-of-pocket costs. The analysis, however, relies on a key"and questionable"assumption that the federal government will set price limits using the highest possible estimate for maximum fair prices in 2026.

Milliman, the consulting firm PhRMA commissioned to do the study, cautioned that the actual prices "will certainly vary due to differences in unit cost and utilization trend, 2026 benefit designs, and actual 2026 maximum fair prices."

On Wednesday, PhRMA then announced an "educational campaign" on how the US intellectual property system "is actually the vehicle for lower [drug] costs." The bold claim is likely jarring to the many critics of the pharmaceutical industry, who for years have noted how drug companies exploit double patenting or "patent thickets" to extend monopolies on drugs and hold off low-cost generics from entering the market.

"They'll lose" ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-06-28 07:25 PM | Reply


It is looking like PhRMA may need to start sending Justice Thomas on expensive cruises, and/or give a flag to Justice Alito's wife. ...


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-06-28 07:27 PM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 2

Old Joe is still the best friend of Seniors and other Americans with various illnesses requiring drugs that Big Pharma wants to bankrupt families with exorbidant pricing.

"How Big Pharma Reaps Profits While Hurting Everyday Americans"

"rump has long promised to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and lower prescription drug prices, but he has avoided taking serious action to drive down prices while at the same time filling top spots in his administration with industry insiders. This administration's culture of corruption, which continues a decadeslong practice of political pandering to the pharmaceutical industry, carries a real cost; Americans spent $535 billion1 on prescription drugs in 2018, an increase of 50 percent since 2010. These price increases far surpass inflation, with Big Pharma increasing prices on its most-prescribed medications by anywhere from 40 percent to 71 percent from 2011 to 2015.2

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"Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Urges Congress to Lower Drug Costs for Americans with Commercial Insurance"

"President Biden's prescription drug law, the Inflation Reduction Act, was signed into law on August 16, 2022. This new law provides meaningful financial relief for millions of people with Medicare by expanding benefits, lowering drug costs, and strengthening Medicare for the future.

Thanks to the President's new lower cost prescription drug law, the lives of Medicare enrollees are changing for the better. The benefits for seniors and people with disabilities include:

A $35/month cap on the cost of each Medicare-covered insulin product;
Free recommended adult vaccines, such as shingles and RSV, for Medicare Part D enrollees;"

www.hhs.gov

#3 | Posted by danni at 2024-06-30 07:59 AM | Reply

The US patent system is a disaster.

It should be impossible to get a patent on something that is already FDA approved. It used to be that if something was "published" then that precluded it being patentable, and if it's been tossed at the FDA for approval it's certainly been published.

In any case, there are FAR too many patents issued. There are nowhere close to as many true inventions as there are patents, and most patents are for things that are trivial and obvious. The job of patent examiner should mostly consist of rapid rejections, it's unlikely that there are even a thousand things a year that are truly inventions, the vast majority of patents issued shouldn't have been.

Things that should not be patentable include:

Living things
Doing something different with something that already exists (That's not an invention)
Software
Medicine (Yep, I would just ban ALL drug patents. And for those of you who say it would stop innovation, bull. Most research is paid for with tax money in the form of grants to universities - and that's another category...)
Anything developed with public money
Designs (Yep, ban the entire 'design patent' category. And ban all protection overlap, if you patent it, you can't trademark it, if you trademark it you can't copyright it, if you copyright it, you can't patent it.)

Of course, I'd also nationalize the entire pharmaceutical industry. Nobody should make profits from medicine.

#4 | Posted by DarkVader at 2024-06-30 08:20 AM | Reply

So I'm on a drug that costs 8k a month. Now hear me out cause this gets crazy.

I started the drug in clinical trials. Because the drug is 8k a month they have a copay assist program. The copay assist program gives you a debit card that works at one pharmacy for one drug. So I get a HDHP with a 7.5k max out of pocket in January I call for a refill and use the debit card to pay the 7.5k max out of pocket for the drug. I have now met my deductible and max out of pocket for the whole year, in january, costing me 0. Now my annual MRI my semi-annual neurologist appointments, my quarterly primary care appointments, all other drugs etc. are covered 100% for the year.

Then the patent expired a generic came out insurance wanted me to switch. The generic still costs 5k a year but has no copay assist. So I can go with a regular insurance plan, pay 500 a month for the drug plus a co-pay on all my other expenses or stick with HDHP pay 7500 in jan and feb and then everything else is covered. Either way I'm paying 7500 more a year for the "cheaper" generic. So I go to the neuro and get put on a new med that costs 9500 a month but has co-pay assist and get back in the same groove I've been in.

The point being our whole system is beyond messed up.

#5 | Posted by TaoWarrior at 2024-06-30 09:47 AM | Reply

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