Midweek update

David Ermer–Uncategorized–
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has scheduled  a vpte on Dale Cabaniss’s nomination to become OPM Director for next Wednesday May 15 at 9:30 am. Here’s a link to the Federal News Network’s article on Ms. Cabaniss’s confirmation hearing before that Committee held yesterday afternoon. 

Fierce Healthcare reports that

Kaiser Permanente plans to roll out a new care network to more effectively connect its 12.3 million patients to the community services they need, such as housing, food, or transportation.

The health system is partnering with Unite Us, a social determinants technology and care coordination platform, to build the technology infrastructure that will enable Kaiser Permanente to better address social determinants and  “connect all the dots in a systematic way” for its millions of members, Kaiser Chairman and CEO Bernard Tyson told FierceHealthcare.

The initiative aims to equip all of Kaiser Permanente’s healthcare providers with technology tools to better address patients’ social determinants of health. The health system plans to start rolling out the network regionally this summer. The goal is to make the network available across its entire system within three years to serve the 68 million people in the communities it serves.

Bravo.

The Department of Health and Human Services finalized a federal rule today generally requiring prescription drug manufacturers to post prices in the consumer advertising shown on television. The accompanying fact sheet explains

  • The rule will require direct-to-consumer television advertisements for prescription drug and biological products covered by Medicare or Medicaid to include the list price – the Wholesale Acquisition Cost – if that price is equal to or greater than $35 for a month’s supply or the usual course of therapy, with the prices updated quarterly.
  • The 10 most commonly advertised drugs have list prices ranging from $488 to $16,938 per month or usual course of therapy. Patients deserve to know what a drug costs as they discuss their options with their doctor.
  • The final rule will go into effect 60 days after it was published in the Federal Register.
  • If a manufacturer simply includes price information in a direct-to-consumer advertisement as required by § 403.1202, that information in the advertisement will not require review by the FDA Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (ODPD). OPDP does not review price information in prescription drug advertisements and does not intend to do so in the future, unless the price information explicitly or implicitly incorporates safety or efficacy information about the drug, or makes express or implied claims about the safety or efficacy of the drug.
We will have to wait and see if the federal courts are asked to weigh in on this rule. 
Kaiser Health News reports on a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing held yesterday on patent laws and drug prices. 

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) offered specific examples of drugs that have benefited from system issues, including Humira, an expensive drug for arthritis and psoriasis that is protected by 136 patents.

That’s called a “patent thicket,” because it prevents a generic alternative from entering the market for more years — in this case, until 2023 for a drug first approved for use in the United States in 2002. “Is there anyone on the panel who’d like to defend the status quo?” he asked.

“There is no way a biosimilar can deal with a hundred patents,” testified Michael Carrier, a professor at Rutgers Law School. “This is an abuse of the system.”

Amen to that.

Celebrated New York Times health policy reporter Robert Pear died yesterday at age 69. Here is a link to his obituary in his newspaper.  RIP.