- Lawsuit: Cigna algorithm rejects claims without a doctor even opening a patient’s records.
- Report: CMS’ Medicaid inflation penalty will make generic drug shortages worse.
- Virginia Medicaid paid at least $21.8 million on behalf of 12,054 enrollees after they were already dead.
- An expensive trip: a medically approved, psychedelic renaissance is underway.
- Did Gilead hold a promising HIV drug off the market in order to increase profits? (NYT) Economic theory would say no.
- Australia has “virtually eliminated” HIV transmission in Sydney and elsewhere.
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Regulations and Patent Gaming Undermines Drug Maker Competition, Delays New Products
Yesterday John Goodman posted a link about pharmaceutical companies gaming the patent system. The following is an excerpt from the American Institute for Economic Research:
Senator Bernie Sanders isn’t right about much, but he is about one thing: The United States pays too much for prescription drugs.
… [t]here are also many bad US government policies putting upward pressure on domestic drug prices.
The fundamental issue is that there is no free market in the drug industry. It’s been steadily eroded by regulators and lawmakers, often at the behest and to the benefit of drug manufacturers, resulting in their ability to charge prices well over what a competitive market would allow.
Much of the blame for a lack of market competition can also be attributed to a U.S. patent system that is too easily gamed and exploited by drug companies.
Saturday Links
- Gaming the patent system: drug companies have 74 patents apiece on America’s ten best-selling drugs—receiving over half of them after FDA approval.
- More than 3.1 million patients in 48 states have completed a consultation with an AI-powered chatbot.
- Federal employees are still not back to work. 17 of the 24 federal agencies in GAO’s review had an average occupancy of 25 percent or less.
- As of mid-2020, collections agencies held $140 billion in unpaid medical bills. That’s more than all other collections agency consumer debt combined.
- 80% of children with cancer survive at least five years in the wealthiest countries v. 30% in the rest of the world, according to WHO. (NYT)
The Atlantic: What Happens When Hard Drugs Are Decriminalized
Today John Goodman posted the Danger of Drug Laws and the unintended consequences of making drug abuse illegal. Because drug abuse is illegal, illicit drug users don’t have the support system that medical pharmaceuticals have. For example, fentanyl has both legitimate medicinal uses and non-medical uses. It has a low therapeutic index when used for pain relief. That means it is inherently risky.