How to fix the pharmaceutical market?

[Jasper07734]

If your erection lasts for more than 24 hours, call your friends and brag about it.

[SredniVashtar]

@Jasper07734

If your erection lasts for more than 24 hours, call your friends and brag about it tweet that the Democrats are stealing it.

IFYP

[CSPAN]

@SredniVashtar

What’s the most realistic better way?

I’ll go with the simpler, more conceptual approach: just spend more on political lobbying than the pharmaceutical industry. The best ideas and necessary legislation will follow. Haha, just kidding guys. Spending more than them on lobbying isn’t realistic, is it?

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

This should be a non-paywalled link.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-reduction-drug-prices-11673628922?st=jqamczbhuw9fhfd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

President Biden last year signed into law the bill dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act, empowering Medicare, the country’s biggest buyer of prescription drugs, to negotiate how much it pays for certain high-price therapies. Another provision set a cap on price increases that requires drugmakers to pay Medicare rebates on treatments whose prices rise by more than the rate of inflation. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analysts estimate the legislation could reduce pharmaceutical-company revenue by about $40 billion through 2032.

Many details of the law are still being finalized, and negotiated prices on an initial 10 drugs won’t take effect until 2026. But in the near term, the legislation is likely to spur a couple of key pricing strategies, analysts say.

To blunt the impact of limits on future price increases, pharmaceutical companies are likely to launch new drugs this year at higher prices than they would have before the legislation passed, analysts say. They’re also likely to raise prices on existing drugs more than usual while high inflation gives them cover, analysts add.

This is somewhat predictable, but I suspect a few folks didn’t consider these unintended consequences.

The article also mentions that doses of Pfizer and Moderna are expected to be $110-$130/dose in the US once the current government contracts expire (up from $30ish/dose).

[Nick_Papagiorgio]

First shoe to drop due to the Inflation Reduction Act’s new regulations on pharmaceutical pricing.

Lilly plans to slash some insulin prices, expand cost cap

[SredniVashtar]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/economists-warn-costs-if-us-medicare-covers-new-obesity-drugs-2023-03-11/

Obesity injections seem to be working (somewhat) now.

They cost $1k/month.

30% of old people are obese.

Should we give them $1k/month?

[dr_t_non-fan]

If they get the injections, then they can eat $1K/month of more food. That’s good for the economy, right? I think that’s how it works.

[Indy]

@SredniVashtar

Should we give them $1k/month?

I say we should wait and see what European countries do. I expect that IF they approve the drugs for their systems, they won’t be paying $1,000/month.

[3rookie]

from article: “…adding that more research is needed to know whether weight loss induced by these drugs translates to better long-term health outcomes.”

This.

[Nick_Papagiorgio]

Agree, the government could really use a test and learn function.

[SredniVashtar]

In phrarma news, J&J randomly decided to allow a company to produce generic Bedaquiline, their TB drug. The Bedaquiline patent was supposed to expire right now anyway, but J&J had created secondary patents to keep it going for a couple more years. Which would have kept the cost up in a lot of countries that can’t afford it.

This met with complaining from Doctors Without Borders, and Stop TB, and culminated recently in a John Green you-tube rant.

Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson

(J&J’s deal to allow a generics came the day after that rant, but probably not due to the rant, as it takes time to make deals.)

Anyway, an interesting little saga imo. And pretty well articulates one aspect of the nonsense of the industry.

[Maphistos_Sidekick]

President Trump on Sunday said he would sign an executive order aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs, looking to implement a policy that ties U.S. drug prices to what other countries pay.

“Our Country will finally be treated fairly, and our citizens Healthcare Costs will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “On top of everything else, the United States will save TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS.”

Trump said he would be instituting a policy known as “Most Favored Nation,” wherein the U.S. government pays prices for drugs that are tied to the prices paid by other countries. Many other countries pay lower prices for medications because their single-payer healthcare systems negotiate for deals.

He didn’t specify whether the order would apply to Medicare, Medicaid or other government programs. He said he would sign the order Monday.

WSJ gift link: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-says-he-will-sign-executive-order-aimed-at-lowering-drug-prices-2a5b9b28?st=f4JyQL&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

[tommie.frazier]

will be interesting to see if/how this survives legal challenges. or interacts with proposed tariffs (depending where the drug is made). as a premise, it is the sort of thing some people have cheered for

[Indy]

@tommie.frazier

as a premise, it is the sort of thing some people have cheered for

I’m one of those people. I’d like to see Congress pass a law that caps drug prices in the US (for all purchases) at 110% of the average price paid in other rich countries.

Trump mentioned this in he last term, and maybe signed an EO very late, but nothing came of it.

I think that early on in his first term he had a meeting with drug CEOs that didn’t seem to have any effect.

IIRC, Biden felt he had the power to work on the prices Medicare pays. I don’t know how far a president can go without Congress.

[The_Polymath]

The only thing this really means is that the Pharma companies are going to throw hundreds of millions of $$ at the mid-terms to get their own people elected.

And then Trump is DOA. Like last time.

[now_samantha]

@tommie.frazier

will be interesting to see if/how this survives legal challenges.

It failed legal challenges in 2020. It may be judge dependent, but surely pharma company lawyers understand judge shopping.

[The_Polymath]

I do wonder who shorted these stocks before Trump came out with his comment.

Pharmaceutical stocks slide as Trump vows to cut US prescription drug prices...

[Indy]

I would like to see lower pharma prices.

But, if I had a choice between lower pharma prices vs. the Rs losing the midterms by hefty margins, I’ll take the latter.

[Gormenghast]

@Indy

I’d like to see Congress pass a law that caps drug prices in the US (for all purchases) at 110% of the average price paid in other rich countries.

Other countries had no problem introducing similar caps but they don’t have powerful pharma lobbies.