CLOSE MENUTwelve Republicans voted alongside all of the House Democrats to pass the bill that would cap monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for patients with insurance. The majority of House Republicans, however, argue that this bill will just cause premiums to rise and will not truly lower costs for patients. Senate Majority Leader Schumer (D-NY) plans on bringing an insulin bill to the floor after their Easter break later this month. Senators Shaheen (D-NH) and Collins (R-ME) are working together on a bipartisan bill that would restrict rebates on insulin for patients with both Part D and private insurances and they plan to combine their bill with Sen. Warnock’s $35 cap. To read more, click here.
The panel voted 6-4 against recommending the drug for approval, but some members of the panel said their vote could have gone either way. FDA reviewers found issues with one of the two clinical trials, CENTAUR, due to its small size and lack of significant data. This is the first time the FDA has convened this advisory panel since the vote against Aduhelm. To review the meeting, click here.
Stacie Dusetzina spoke at Politico’s Future of US Health Care conference on drug pricing, affordability, and innovation. Dusetzina was joined by Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Buddy Carter (R-GA) as well as Leigh Purvis, Director of Health Care Costs and Access at AARP. The panel discussed policies that are currently up for debate, such as capping insulin, as well as the future of BBBA as a whole and Medicare negotiation. To watch the panel, click here.
Stacie Dusetzina and her colleagues analyzed Medicare beneficiaries’ high-price specialty drug prescription habits in a Health Affairs study. The study looked at prescribing records of 11 health systems for high-cost drugs used to treat cancer, hepatitis C, immune system disorders, and hypercholesterolemia from 2012-2018. The researchers found that non-LIS Part D beneficiaries are nearly twice as likely not to fill their prescriptions for serious conditions due to high cost. In 2021, more than 70% of Part D beneficiaries did not quality for subsidies. To read the full study, click here.
