- Study: If the IRA drug price controls were in place in 2014, “between 24 and 49 therapies currently available today would most likely not have come to market and therefore not available for patients.” The act will cause patients to lose access to an estimated 40% of new medicines or up to 139 new therapies over the next decade.
- Licensing laws are creating a shortage of dentists, just like they create a shortage of physicians.
- AFP endorses the Pete Sessions health reform bill.
- Study: School lunches no longer lead to more childhood obesity. But is that because the kids are throwing the food away?
Category: Drug Prices & Regulations
Wednesday Links
- The debt deal may actually weaken work requirements. That’s because the bill’s new exemptions (for homeless people, veterans, and young adults who grew up in foster care) remove more people from existing work mandates than the number of people the bill adds.
- In 2021, 42 million adults in the United States sought mental-health care of one form or another. But does therapy really work? The evidence is mixed. (NYT)
- The Biden administration funds a grant to a project that discovers the GOP, Fox News, the Heritage Foundations, etc. are the foundation of Nazi, white supremacist and other hate groups.
- “We find that a 1-year reduction in effective patent length reduces the number of new drugs brought to market from 46 to 39 per year (a 16% decline), decreasing in social welfare by $9.0 trillion between 2021 and 2050. Consumers incur 75.8% ($6.8 trillion) of the reduction in social welfare.”
Are Weight-Loss Drugs Right for Medicare?
Should Medicare cover weight-loss drugs under Part D plans? Currently Medicare drug plans do not cover drugs for weight-loss.
Medicare coverage of obesity services and treatments currently includes obesity screening, behavioral counseling, and bariatric surgery, but not drugs that are prescribed for weight loss. The 2003 law that established the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit explicitly prohibits Part D plans from covering drugs used for weight loss, along with some other types of drugs, including agents used for cosmetic purposes or hair growth, fertility drugs, and drugs prescribed to treat sexual or erectile dysfunction.
FTC Cracking Down on Drug Company Consolidation
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is scrutinizing mergers more carefully than in the past. The federal agency is currently trying to block a merger between Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics.
In its lawsuit, the FTC said that if it allowed Amgen’s $27.8 billion purchase to go through, Amgen could pressure the companies that manage access to prescription drugs — pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs — to boost the two extremely expensive Horizon products in a way that would inhibit any competition.