Pharmaceutical Costs

August. 19, 2024, A $6 Billion Breakthrough or a Drop in the Bucket?

August. 19, 2024, A $6 Billion Breakthrough or a Drop in the Bucket? After decades of effort, and for the first time, the government successfully negotiated drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies. For years, the fight to control health care prices, perhaps the most significant factor in health care spending, has felt like an unwinnable […]

July 10, 2024, How Drug Middlemen Keep Beating the System

July 10, 2024, How Drug Middlemen Keep Beating the System Pharmacy-benefit managers are outsmarting regulators by adapting their opaque business models and keeping data from the public.  A report by the FTC points to ways in which middlemen are creating conflicts of interest and pushing up costs.   Links Wall Street Journal:  How Drug Middlemen Keep […]

June 21, 2024, The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs

June 21, 2024, The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs Pharmacy benefit managers are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government.  It is a common, longstanding complaint. And the culprits seem obvious: Drug companies. Insurers. A dysfunctional federal government. Links New York Times:  June 21, 2024, The Opaque […]

April 15, 2024, Americans Are Paying Billions to Take Drugs That Don’t Work

April 15, 2024, Americans Are Paying Billions to Take Drugs That Don’t Work Companies are increasingly using fast-track approval processes to get unproven treatments to patients. One ALS drug made $400 million in sales for its maker. It doesn’t work. A cancer treatment brought in $500 million. That one turned out to have no effect […]

January 28, 2023, How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System

January 28, 2023, How a Drug Company Made $114 Billion by Gaming the U.S. Patent System AbbVie for years delayed competition for its blockbuster drug Humira, at the expense of patients and taxpayers.  The key patent on the best-selling anti-inflammatory medication, used to treat conditions like arthritis, was expiring at the end of the year. […]