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The Nevada Independent filed a lawsuit...against the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services seeking access to a number of records related to the state’s 2017 diabetes drug pricing transparency law...The Independent filed two records requests this year seeking copies of annual reports submitted by diabetes drug companies and the drug pricing middlemen who help sell them to the state…The annual reports are required to explain how and why a drug price spikes over time...But the state has denied much of both requests on the grounds that such information is exempt from state public records law because of a federal trade secret law...READ MORE

Drug pricing in the U.S. is in need of a fix. Mired in layers of complexity and controversy, experts insist that pharmaceutical manufacturers can take basic steps to navigate the process more smoothly through improved transparency, better communication about products’ clinical value, and tighter internal organization that focuses on the drug’s full revenue life-cycle...many factors should be considered when pricing drugs and biologics, including the clinical value of the drug compared to its competitors, the increased survival and quality of life with the drug, patient affordability, competitors’ prices and the effect of various discount programs…

• ‘Thinking in bits and pieces’...some companies ahead of the curve are managing price, adding analytics and tracking patients’ journeys with the assistance of electronic health records and other technologies...
• Understanding risk and reward...The stakes are high for pharma manufacturers, and they "have to understand what their risk and reward is with pricing," and follow up with analytics to determine the best ways to move forward...what we’re really trying to do [is improve] communicating and understanding the value of these drugs,"...

BioMarin CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaime, discusses drug pricing, the sentiment of investors in biotech and his expectations for the company's Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug.

Media scrutiny of high drug costs…spending on drugs represents 10% of overall health care costs. Together, hospital and physician expenditures account for 6 times the spending on drugs. Despite a recent uptick in the rate of drug cost growth, over the past 10 years the pace of hospital and physician expenditures has exceeded prescription drugs…these facts do not make for eye-catching headlines. By contrast, the recent surge in the price of drugs targeting hepatitis C, HIV, and various cancer and orphan diseases, is salient and the focal point of media attention…Here, we unravel several mysteries surrounding drug pricing and alignment of price and value.

• Why is pricing in the U.S. different?
• How are drugs priced in the US?
• What about R&D and its relation to price?
• Then what?
• But, does price = value?
• What are the alternatives?
• Summary

Democrats won back the House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm elections, wresting control from Republicans in an outcome that will shape the next two years of Donald Trump's presidency...In congressional campaigns across the country, healthcare emerged as a key issue, with pre-existing conditions and rising prescription drug costs among the most prominently highlighted...there are several outcomes that look clear for drugmakers. Here are five:

1. More scrutiny on drug pricing
2. But not necessarily major disruption
3. Continued action in the states
4. Medicaid expansions to add to insured population
5. Business as usual at the FDA

A skirmish over drug pricing escalated...when the pharmaceutical industry filed a lawsuit to prevent consumer activists in Ohio from pursuing a ballot measure designed to lower the cost of medicines...The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America contends that the activists failed to legally obtain the signatures needed to get their measure on the state ballot. Known as the Ohio Drug Price Relief Act, the proposal would require the state to pay no more for medicines than the Department of Veterans Affairs...The ballot measure is one of a growing number of maneuvers around the country to combat rising prescription drug prices. A similar measure recently qualified for the ballot in California, despite opposition from the pharmaceutical industry...The lawsuit in Ohio follows weeks of jockeying between the activists, the trade group, and elected officials over the process for gathering and approving signatures...While the ongoing dispute focuses on the technical procedures involved in winning space on the state ballot, the clash is really about the cost of medicines...pharmaceutical industry...strongly opposes any efforts to impose price caps or encourage negotiations over prices...

George Scangos, chief executive officer at Biogen, talks with Betty Liu about the company's drug pipeline and explains the complications related to drug pricing and research and development. He speaks on "Bloomberg Markets." (Source: Bloomberg)

In response to the recent spike of many prescription drug prices, the AMA adopted several policies to provide patients with more information about the drugs that they are prescribed and a rationale for price increases…Taken together, these policies would bring much needed transparency to drug pricing and provide a clear benefit to consumers struggling with exorbitant costs…There seems to be no logic — or warning — to these price spikes…The AMA urged federal agencies to require that manufacturers list the suggested retail prices of medications on direct-to-consumer ads...In addition, AMA encouraged drug companies to notify the public of price increases of more than 10% for certain medications over a 12-month period...

The reputation of the pharmaceutical industry continues to plummet. A day doesn’t go by without seeing at least one negative news story about... drug pricing...stories about how unaffordable drugs are or about how a family has gone into bankruptcy as a result of paying for a lifesaving medication...millions of dollars paid in fines by companies for the illegal detailing of drugs... Companies continue to be dogged by accusations of hiding clinical data...Direct-to-consumer ads are also a lightning rod...It’s not a happy time for the industry...The industry’s trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is charged with representing the industry on a host of issues, including improving its reputation...Well, PhRMA has a new leader, Mr. Stephen J. Ubl... he couldn’t have picked a more difficult time to assume the mantel of industry spokesperson. If there is one issue...it is that the pharmaceutical industry needs to be reined in, particularly with respect to drug prices. There couldn’t be a bigger bullseye on the pharmaceutical industry...Mr. Ubl has the opportunity to change the tone of the current pricing debate as well as the other issues that impact the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation...Hopefully, he can start to turn the tide and begin to bring the industry back to the esteem that it enjoyed twenty years ago.

"Don’t Believe the Hype."...It’s good advice for people operating in the R&D side of pharmaceuticals. Many exciting things are happening today in the science, so it’s easy to get carried away. But this year’s market correction–driven in part by systemic concerns about drug pricing, a few clinical trial blowups and shenanigans—should serve as a vivid reminder. No matter how good the fundamentals are, biotech still hasn’t figured out how to carefully calibrate perceptions to keep the steam engine steadily chugging along, without letting things get too hot or too cold...Hype has always been part of biotech because investments must be made on glimmers of promise, otherwise known as incomplete data. Without hype and hope, the industry couldn’t exist...There’s no good way to quantify perceptions, and things change fast in biotech, but I do talk every day to lots of different people with their fingers on the pulse of different things. So I thought it would be fun to try again this year with plotting various biotech platforms and concepts along the Gartner hype curve.

Peak of inflated expectations

• CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing.
• Microbiome everything.
• Genomic wellness.
• Conquering antibiotic resistance.

Trough of Disillusionment

• Digital health.
• Stem cell therapies.

Climbing up the Slope of Enlightenment

• Immuno-oncology.
• Viral Vector Gene Therapy.
• Long-read sequencing.