November 18, 2013—Eight leading drug manufacturers are pulling the plug on a discount card program used by more than 2 million people who are ineligible for Medicare and have no prescription drug coverage. … [Read more...]
Groups Say Trade Pact Threatens 340B
Letter to Obama warns of limits on prescription drug cost-control mechanismsNovember 15, 2013—Drug-pricing provisions reportedly being advanced by U.S. negotiators for a proposed multilateral trade treaty could subject 340B drug discounts "to challenge by manufacturers," a coalition of health, consumer, labor, and retiree groups says in a recent letter to President Obama. … [Read more...]
Big Pharma Profiteering on Orphan Drugs (Cont’d.)
Earlier this week, we reported that The Seattle Times is investigating drug industry profiteering from orphan drugs. Now, the business news website Quartz has run its own the story on the topic. "There's good reason for big pharma's attraction to rare disease treatments," writer John McDuling says in Forget Viagra: Why Rare Diseases are Big Pharma’s Latest Obsession. "Revenue … [Read more...]
340B Hospitals Face Double Whammy in Many States
Recently, we described how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is squeezing public and private nonprofit hospitals’ finances—making hospitals’ continued access to 340B drug discounts more important than ever. This past Saturday, the front-page lead story in The New York Times took an in-depth look at how two SNHPA member hospitals in Georgia are struggling to cope with ACA's cuts in … [Read more...]
Report: Big Pharma Profiteering on Orphan Drugs
The Seattle Times has published the first installment of an investigation of drug industry profiteering from orphan drugs. It's called "Pharma's Windfall: The Mining of Rare Diseases." Orphan drugs are pharmaceuticals approved to treat diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 patients in the United States. The federal government gives drug manufacturers multiple incentives to … [Read more...]
HHS Awards $150 Million to Open More Health Centers
Funding to be spread among 236 communities and serve 1.25 million patientsNovember 8, 2013—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced $150 million in awards to support 236 new community health center sites in 43 states. … [Read more...]
Drug Companies Have Completed 6 Audits of 340B Providers
A seventh audit is in progress, HRSA reportsNovember 8, 2013—Drug manufacturers have completed six federally authorized audits of 340B covered entities and government officials are following up with the entities involved to determine what comes next. … [Read more...]