Pharmaceutical Companies Spend $6 Billion in Direct-To-Consumer Ads Each Year

caregiver laughing with elderly client -monterey in home caregiving

Big Pharm companies pay $6 billion per year to try and convince consumers to ask their doctor to subscribe certain prescription drugs.  However, a recent study finds the drugs promoted in these ads are not any better than drugs that are not advertised, and sometimes are worse.  They often aren’t intended as first-line therapies, deliver little value to patients or have more side effects than other equally effective treatment.  Drug companies counter with,” Consumer advertising has shown to help patients by raising disease awareness, removing stigma from certain conditions, promoting adherence to medicine and encouraging important conversations between patients and their doctors,” according to Sarah Ryan, public affairs representative from trade group PhRMA.

 

Opioid Crisis Has Sad Unintended Consequences

Medicine tablets and capsules in containers

The national awareness that has been created by the opioid crisis is a great thing, and has saved many lives.  However, The New York Times Recently ran an article about some unintended consequences caused by physicians being more cautious about prescribing pain medications.  Many doctors refer patients who need pain killers to “pain clinics,” which specialize in treating those with chronic pain and often prescribe opioids.  However, even the pain clinics have become increasingly cautious.  The Times told the story of Brent Slone, who flipped his vehicle to avoid a stalled car and suffered severe injuries.  He miraculously survived, but was paralyzed from the waist down and in intense pain.  Six years after the car wreck, the pain clinic he went to cut his pain medication in half with no explanation.  He showed up at the pain clinic in his wheelchair, but they gave him no sympathy and told him he couldn’t get a refill on his prescription for six weeks.  He sent his wife a text which said “They denied script im done love you.”  He then went to a local park and committed suicide.  Although his family won a nearly $7 million malpractice judgment against his doctors and the pain clinic, this was a small consolation to his wife.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/07/opinion/opioid-crisis-pain-victims.html

 

Prescription Drugs’ List Price Up 6.6% In Just 3 Weeks

Drug makers typically raise their prices in the beginning of the year and 2022 has been no exception.  A new study found that about 150 drug makers raised prices on 866 products in the U.S. during the first three weeks of the year by 6.6%.  That’s slightly less than the overall inflation rate of 7% over the past year, but there still may be more drug price hikes on the way.  Therefore, it’s possible that this could be a record year for drug price increase.  Some of the numbers have been eye popping, such as the 536% increase Exelan Pharmaceuticals implemented for its generic high blood pressure treatment Lisinopril.

Great News For Medicare Recipients In New Senate Bill

Many had criticized Congress for working on a sweeping bill that, at the end of the day, did not include relief for consumers over the high cost of prescription drugs.  That has been quickly remedied.  A deal was reached today which adds to the $1.85 trillion social-policy and climate bill a provision which gives Medicare the power to negotiate the price of some drugs, penalize drug companies for raising prices faster than inflation, and cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors at $2,000 per year.  It also creates a $35 out-of-pocket monthly maximum for insulin.  “This deal will directly reduce out-of-pocket drug spending for millions of patients,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.).

AARP Urges You To Fight For Lower Prescription Prices

Medicine tablets and capsules in containers

The American Association for Retired Persons, or AARP, has launched a campaign #ShowYourReceipts to put pressure on Congress to lower drug prices.  Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world!  Here is how you can participate:

  1. Take a copy of your prescription invoices;
  2. Tag your federal law makers; and
  3. Add #ShowYourRecipts to your post.

Health & Human Services Secretary Announces Plan To Reduce Prescription Drug Prices

Medicine tablets and capsules in containers

Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra outlined the Biden Administration’s plan to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.  The 29-page plan supports legislation that allows the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices on the costliest drugs each year, and pass those savings on to insurers.  It would also reduce regulatory barriers in order to get new drugs approved by the FDA and incentivize drug makers to develop medications that are already on the market in the U.S. in order to reduce prices.  Per-capita prescription drug spending in the U.S. far exceeds that of other high-income countries.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/09/biden-administration-unveils-plans-to-lower-prescription-drug-costs-in-the-us.html

New Prescription Drugs Are Coming With A Hefty Price : By Derek Baine

More and more prescription drugs are coming to market with outrageous wholesale prices and many have wondered whether Medicare and private insurance companies will cover them.  They got their answer on Friday for the new Alzheimer’s drug from Biogen when The Department of Veterans Affairs said they won’t cover Aduhelm.  Medicare has yet to weigh in.  The VA cited the risks of causing series side effects and a lack of evidence that it improves cognitive function in denying coverage.  By law, the VA has greater leeway than other government health programs like Medicare and Medicaid to deny coverage of medicines it deems to be of poor value.  A group of VA doctors concluded last month that more than 150K veteran beneficiaries diagnosed with Alzheimer’s could receive the drug.  However, it would come at a cost of $4 billion annually.

Biden Lays Out Plan To Cut Drug Prices

President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order that aims at lowering drug prices, and it actually has teeth.  One provision is that the government can now take legal action against companies that collude to try and keep generic drugs from coming to market.  Another allows states and Indian tribes to import drugs from Canada.  He also directed the FDA’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, to issue proposed rules within 120 days to allow hearing aides to be sold over the counter.  The four largest makers of hearing aides control 84% of the market.  Because they are so expensive, only 14% of the 48 million Americans suffering from hearing loss use the devices.  Still, some criticized the order because it doesn’t give Medicare the power to directly negotiate prices with drug companies.  “Negotiation of prices is the biggest and best solution,” to lowering drug prices, said Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Health Research, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C.