September 28, 2016—The New York Times published a shocking article this morning about how drug companies tried to strong-arm a patient-advocacy group to keep quiet about obscenely high drug prices. As we've noted before, stories like these raise questions about what's motivating some disease-awareness groups to bad-mouth the 340B drug discount program. … [Read more...]
Bipartisan Bill Would Restore Rural Hospitals’ 340B Orphan Drug Discounts
September 27, 2016—A Democrat and Republican on the House Energy & Commerce Committee are co-sponsoring legislation to let rural hospitals get 340B drug discounts once again on orphan drugs when the drugs are used for non-orphan diseases or conditions. … [Read more...]
Poll: Americans Blame Drugmakers Most for High Healthcare Costs
September 23, 2016—Seventy percent of Americans think drug companies bear most of the blame for the high cost of healthcare, with health insurance companies coming in second (60 percent), a new survey shows. Forty three percent are very or somewhat worried about being unable to pay their medical bills in the coming year, with 31 percent citing out-of-pocket costs such as … [Read more...]
House Republicans and Democrats Rip Mylan for Price Gouging
September 22, 2016—Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight Committee yesterday ripped Mylan chief executive Heather Bresch during a hearing about the outrageously high price of Mylan's EpiPen anaphylaxis rescue injectors. … [Read more...]
Senate Republicans Want Medicaid Drug Rebate Investigation
September 21, 2016—Senate Finance Committee Republicans yesterday joined House Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans in calling for an independent investigation of oversight of the Medicaid drug rebate program. … [Read more...]
Another Exposé About Drugmakers Co-opting Patient Advocates
September 20, 2016—Yesterday we wrote about how The New York Times and the Center for Public Integrity exposed how drug companies co-opt patient-advocacy and civic groups with big donations. Some disease-awareness and civic groups, we noted, parrot negative pharmaceutical industry talking points about the 340B drug discount program. You can add Bloomberg Markets to the list of … [Read more...]
News Outlets Disclose How Drugmakers Co-opt Patient Advocates
September 19, 2016—The New York Times and investigative journalists at The Center for Public Integrity have both published recent exposés about how drug companies co-opt patient-advocacy and civic groups to do their bidding with lavish donations. The exposés are timely, as some disease-awareness and concerned-citizens groups are ramping up efforts to get Congress to "reform" … [Read more...]