Tag Archives: Prescription Drugs

US Drug shortage of common cheap drugs

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Important Takeaways:

  • US drug shortages are forcing ‘impossible choices’ for Americans, experts tell Senate committee
  • “The absence of a generic and cheap drug like fludarabine literally can be the difference between life and death,” Westin told members of the US Senate Committee on Finance at a hearing Tuesday.
  • Marsha Blackburn noted that the medical center at Vanderbilt in Nashville has had to dedicate more than 100 staff members to managing and mitigating disruptions caused by shortages.
  • “This is something that is becoming all too common with our providers,” the Tennessee Republican said Tuesday.
  • The majority of the nearly 200 ongoing shortages – 84% – don’t involve new or novel drugs but rather generics that have been on the market for decades, said Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. Generics make up 9 of every 10 prescriptions filled in the US, so shortages have a big impact on the country’s health.

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Trump says he will allow states to import prescription drugs to lower costs

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will soon release a plan to let Florida and other states import prescription medicines to combat high drug prices, and he blasted the Democrat-led House for not going far enough in a drug-pricing bill.

“We will soon be putting more options on the table,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “and her Do Nothing Democrats drug pricing bill doesn’t do the trick.”

The tweets were similar to comments the president made on Nov. 15 at a White House event with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, among other officials. At that meeting, Trump said he would work with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on a plan to broaden rules on importing pharmaceuticals into this country.

Drug companies have staunchly opposed such a plan, which has been mulled for years but never implemented.

“House Republicans are showing real LEADERSHIP and prepared to enact bipartisan solutions for drug prices. Do Nothing Democrats are playing partisan politics with YOUR drug prices! We are READY to work together if they actually want to get something done!,” the president, who faces impeachment by the Democrat-led House of Representatives, said on Twitter.

U.S. prescription drug costs are the highest in the developed world because most other countries negotiate pricing directly with manufacturers, while drug companies are allowed to set their own prices in the United States.

Lowering healthcare costs for U.S. consumers is expected to be a major issue in the 2020 presidential campaign.

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Eli Lilly backs U.S. proposal on drug rebates to lower costs

The logo and ticker for Eli Lilly and Co. are displayed on a screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., May 18, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Tamara Mathias

(Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co on Wednesday embraced a U.S. government proposal to end a decades-old system of rebates drugmakers make to industry middlemen, saying it could lower the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for patients.

Lilly, along with other major insulin makers, Sanofi SA and Novo Nordisk, has been under mounting pressure from patients and politicians over the rising cost of the life-sustaining diabetes treatment.

“While it’s still a proposal, we see this as … a win for patients, lowering their out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter with the greatest benefit realized by patients taking more highly-rebated products such as insulin,” Chief Executive David Ricks said on a call with analysts.

Drugmakers argue they have to keep prices high because of the rebates they must pay to pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers to get products on their lists of covered drugs. In January, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump proposed a rule that would end the rebate system or pass along the savings to patients.

“We’ll adapt to whatever rules come out and how they get finalized,” Ricks said.

Lilly on Wednesday also cut its 2019 profit and revenue forecasts to account for disappearing sales of its cancer drug Lartruvo, which won conditional U.S. approval in 2016 based on early data but last month failed to extend patient survival a confirmatory trial. Costs related to Lilly’s pending $8 billion acquisition of Loxo Oncology also contributed to the revised forecast.

Lilly has said it is suspending promotion of Lartruvo and it will no longer be prescribed to new U.S. patients.

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker’s research and development spending is also expected to rise as it develops Loxo’s pipeline of targeted drugs for cancers driven by rare genetic mutations.

The company said it now expects 2019 adjusted earnings of $5.55 to $5.65 per share, down from its prior forecast of $5.90 to $6.00. It expects revenue of $25.1 billion to $25.6 billion versus its prior view of $25.3 billion to $25.8 billion.

“The forecast cut was generally expected, given the Loxo acquisition and the Lartruvo failure were known events,” Edward Jones analyst Ashtyn Evans said.

“Diabetes will always be an area where we’ll see pricing pressure. Lilly fully takes that into consideration when giving guidance,” she added.

Excluding items, Lilly earned $1.33 per share, a penny shy of analysts’ average estimate, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Eli Lilly shares fell 1.3 percent to $118.82.

(Reporting by Manogna Maddipatla, Tamara Mathias in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Bill Berkrot)

U.S. lawmakers request info from insulin makers on rising prices

FILE PHOTO: Insulin supplies are pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two powerful U.S. lawmakers sent letters to the three leading insulin manufacturers on Wednesday requesting information on why its cost has skyrocketed in recent years and how much the companies profit from the life-sustaining diabetes treatment.

Democratic Representatives Frank Pallone and Diana DeGette, the chairman and a top-ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively, wrote to the heads of Eli Lilly and Co, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi, the long-time leading manufacturers of insulin. The drugmakers have all raised the price of insulin at similar rates over the last several years.

“Despite the fact that it has been available for decades, prices for insulin have skyrocketed in recent years, putting it out of reach for many patients,” the lawmakers wrote.

“As one of the few manufacturers of insulin in the United States, your company is well-suited to shed light on these issues and offer potential solutions,” the letter to the three companies said.

The committee has not set a date for a hearing, a spokesman for DeGette said. It has the power to subpoena the drugmakers if they do not answer the committee’s request.

The annual cost of insulin for treating a type 1 diabetes patient in the United States nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016 to $5,705 from $2,864, according to a recent study.

The lawmakers’ letters come amid intensifying scrutiny from Congress over the high cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers. Both the House Oversight Committee and Senate Finance Committee held hearings on prescription drug prices on Tuesday, with a focus on insulin.

Sanofi confirmed receipt of the letter and said it would work with the committee on its request. Neither Novo nor Lilly immediately responded to requests for comment.

High prescription drug costs have consistently polled as a top voter concern and have been a top priority of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican.

U.S. prescription drug prices are far higher than in other developed nations that either directly or indirectly control medicine costs.

Democratic Representative Elijah Cummings earlier this month wrote to 12 pharmaceutical companies asking for detailed information on their pricing practices, including the makers of insulin.

About 1.2 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, requiring daily insulin. Type 2 diabetes, which affects nearly 30 million Americans, according to the American Diabetes Association, is treated with a variety of other medicines. But those patients may also eventually become dependent on insulin.

(Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Soaring costs, loss of benefits top Americans’ healthcare worries: Reuters/Ipsos poll

An examination room is seen at an onsite health clinic at the Intel corporate campus in Hillsboro, Oregon, U.S., April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Caroline Humer

By Maria Caspani

(Reuters) – For over a year now, Americans have listed healthcare as the most important problem facing the country, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.

When asked what concerns them about U.S. healthcare, this is what they had to say:

TOTAL COST OF HEALTH INSURANCE

Sixty-five percent of Americans said in the poll that they are “very concerned” about the overall cost of health insurance, including premiums, deductibles and copays.

This concern is consistent throughout the country: A majority of both millennials and baby boomers, whites and minorities, Democrats and Republicans were worried about healthcare costs.

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Nearly three in four Americans use prescription drugs, and 58 percent said they are “very concerned” about the cost of paying for them, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll. These drugs are expected to see the fastest annual growth over the next decade, rising an average of 6.3 percent per year, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

CHOOSING CARE

Sixty-six percent of U.S. adults who took part in the survey said they were concerned about their ability to see a doctor of their choice going forward.

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID

About one in three U.S. adults said they were “very concerned” about losing benefits from government-run programs Medicare and Medicaid.

Enrollment in Medicare is expected to increase as baby-boomers reach retirement age, according to CMS projections, which will contribute to growing healthcare spending.

The poll also showed that 58 percent of Americans think Congress should keep the Affordable Care Act either entirely as it is, or with some fixes, while 24 percent think lawmakers should repeal it once an alternative law is passed and 18 percent want the ACA to be repealed immediately.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll surveyed 3,982 people in English in the United States from May 22 to June 3 and it has a credibility interval of about 2 percentage points.

For more Reuters polling, visit http://polling.reuters.com/

(Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Chris Kahn and Chizu Nomiyama)