Author's posts
HHS Amps Up Pressure On Drug Makers By Requiring Disclosure of List Prices in DTC Ads on TV
Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that as of July this year it will require pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose in direct-to-consumer television advertisements the list price of prescription drugs covered by Medica…
Vaccines Are Critical To Public Health, And Are Cost-Effective, Too
Besides having an enormously positive impact on public health, vaccination programs are cost-effective. Childhood vaccination programs have a particularly high societal return on investment, as upfront expenditures are offset by costs avoided through d…
Priority Review Vouchers And Access To Drugs Targeting Neglected Diseases
Criticism of the Priority Review Voucher (PRV) program has been directed at the lack of requirements for a developed drug to be novel, and to be made affordable. A growing number of novel treatments with post-marketing access plans in place appear to b…
Talk Of Medicare For All Unnerving Investors
Earlier this week, UnitedHealthCare CEO David Wichmann’s statement that Medicare for All would lead to a “wholesale disruption” of the U.S. healthcare system, appeared to spook investors. This sent healthcare stocks tumbling and into volatility mode.
ICER’s Growing Impact On Drug Pricing And Reimbursement
ICER’s greatest influence is not on the binary drug coverage decisions (cover or not), but rather the net price and the conditions of reimbursement or utilization controls once a drug is covered.
PBM Executives Questioned On Drug Pricing Practices By Senate Finance Committee
In the wake of a proposal by the Department of HHS to remove safe harbor protections from rebates, PBMs have been resistant to full transparency, especially as it pertains to the net prices they pay for drugs and other fees they obtain in exchange for …
How Are Gene Therapies Going To Get Paid For?
In what appear to be harbingers of new ways to finance gene therapies and potentially turn fortunes around, drug manufacturers are offering, and in some cases payers have been amenable to, value-based contracts and installment plans.
Is There A Way For Republicans To Become The Party Of Healthcare?
President Trump has vowed to make healthcare a top 2020 campaign issue. Conventional wisdom suggests this is a risky venture as Democrats appear to have the upper hand on healthcare. Throwing into the mix an FEHB for all Americans plan could change tha…
Ecstasy And Empathy
A thought-provoking U.K.-based study was published recently on the use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Researchers suggest that repeated use of MDMA, known as ecstasy, may boost self-reported “emotional empathy.”
Collateral Damage From The Trump Administration’s Decision To Invalidate ACA
On Monday the Trump Administration declared that the entire Affordable Care Act should be nixed. This puts in jeopardy a plethora of policy initiatives and demonstration projects the Administration has put forward and begun to implement, aimed at addre…
