Louisiana To Move Forward With ‘Netflix’ Subscription Model To Pay For Pricey Hep C Drugs
The model would allow the state to have access to unlimited supplies of the drug on a subscription basis, rather than paying for each patient. Louisiana hopes to lead the way for others around the country. In other pharmaceutical news: Johnson & Johnson increases prices for about two dozen drugs; a pharma CEO talks about price hikes; an advocacy group boosts a Trump proposal to tie U.S. drug prices to what other countries pay; and more.
The Washington Post:
Louisiana Adopts ‘Netflix’ Model To Pay For Hepatitis C Drugs
Louisiana officials announced Thursday that their state would become the first to move forward with a new way to pay for expensive hepatitis C treatments, which could dramatically increase the number of people who can be cured of the liver-damaging disease and provide a model for others struggling to afford the medications. Instead of paying for each prescription individually, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said the state would essentially pay a subscription fee to a drug company, an alternative payment arrangement that has become known as the “Netflix model.” The state would then get unlimited access to the drug, similar to how consumers pay a monthly fee to stream unlimited television shows and movies. (Johnson, 1/10)
Stat:
Louisiana Proceeds With 'Netflix' Subscription Model To Buy Hepatitis C Drugs
By next July, the state Department of Health hopes to treat more than 10,000 people by the end of 2020, eliminating the chronic liver disease and limiting total spending on hepatitis C drugs to $35 million or less, the amount Medicaid and the Louisiana Department of Corrections spent in fiscal year 2018. However, less than 3 percent of infected Medicaid beneficiaries received treatment. State officials estimate that about 39,000 individuals in Medicaid and state prisons are known to be infected. (Silverman, 1/10)
Reuters:
J&J Raises U.S. Prices On Around Two Dozen Drugs
Johnson & Johnson raised U.S. prices on around two dozen prescription drugs on Thursday, including the psoriasis treatment Stelara, prostate cancer drug Zytiga and blood thinner Xarelto, all among its top-selling products. J&J joined many other companies that raised U.S. prices on hundreds of prescription medicines earlier this month. (1/10)
Stat:
Regeneron CEO: 'We Need A Carrot-And-Stick System' For Pricing And Innovation
Amid ongoing furor over prescription drug pricing, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals chief executive Len Schleifer has sometimes gleefully adopted the role of an industry contrarian, openly poking other companies for price hikes. His ongoing penchant for addressing the topic, in fact, gives him the appearance of a Jiminy Cricket lecturing pharma’s Pinocchio. But Schleifer, who is prone to monologues, is not an indiscriminate naysayer. We spoke with him at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference about recent price hikes that Sanofi — a Regeneron partner — took on a drug, the balance between innovation and accessibility, a controversial cost-effectiveness watchdog, and policy solutions to high prices. This is an edited conversation. (Silverman and Herper, 1/10)
Stat:
Drug Pricing Advocates To Spend $1M On Ads Supporting Trump Proposal
A drug pricing advocacy group on Thursday announced a roughly $1 million ad campaign to boost a Trump administration proposal to align American drug prices with those in other wealthy nations, providing an outside boost to a policy concept that the drug industry has vocally opposed. The same advocacy group, Patients for Affordable Drugs, spent $10 million via its political arm to endorse midterm election candidates it said were working to lower drug costs — and to oppose candidates it said were in bed with industry. (Facher, 1/10)
Stat:
Sanofi-Genzyme Sought Confidential Patient Info, Employee Lawsuit Alleges
A former Sanofi-Genzyme employee is accusing the company of inappropriately seeking confidential patient information, as part of a lawsuit alleging her wrongful termination. The lawsuit, filed in late December in Massachusetts federal court, says the former Sanofi-Genzyme employee made a formal, internal complaint about the inappropriate request for confidential information, after which she experienced “harassment” and “discrimination … in retaliation for the reports she made about [her manager’s] efforts to obtain confidential patient data.” (Sheridan, 1/11)
Chicago Tribune:
Fed Up With High Prices, Drug Shortages, Advocate And Other Hospitals Create Not-For-Profit Drug Company
Advocate Aurora Health, one of the largest hospital systems in the Chicago area, has teamed up with a large group of hospitals intent on battling shortages of generic drugs and bringing down the cost of those medications by making their own. If the venture is successful, the hospitals could pay up to 50 percent less for some drugs — savings that potentially could be passed on to patients. (Schencker, 1/10)
Boston Globe:
A Boston Biotech Takes On A Challenge Most Companies Have Avoided: Making A Better Schizophrenia Drug
Led by Dr. Steve Paul, who was at the San Francisco conference, the company hopes to win approval of a radically different drug to treat schizophrenia. The chronic and complex brain disorder afflicts about 1 percent of the population, or more than 3 million Americans, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. (Saltzman, 1/11)
Prescription Drug Watch: For news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.