September - 2017

The Coalition to

Protect Patient Choice

A Project

of the

Law Offices

of David Balto

Competitive healthcare is healthcare with choices

Advocacy on consumer healthcare competition issues aimed at lowering prescription drug costs

Nevada's Drug Price Law Receives an Encouraging Boost

Nevada's Drug Price Law Receives an Encouraging Boost

This month, Nevada's SB 539, a recently passed bill that requires transparency for diabetes drugs and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), passed its first threshold. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PCMA), the drug industry's main lobbying group, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), filed a lawsuit against the law, claiming it was unconstitutional and trying to prevent it from being enforced. Their suit claims the measure is unprecedente

Drug Companies Are Ramping Up Their Campaign Contributions

Drug Companies Are Ramping Up Their Campaign Contributions

The Trump administration has recently been quiet on the issue of high drug prices. However, back in March 2017 Trump criticized the cost of medicine in America, calling it "outrageous." He then said the reason for the lack of progress on reducing drug prices was campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. The very next day, on March 21st, drug companies donated $279,400 to political campaigns. The contributions came from eight political action committees and went

Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Repeal Will Not Come to a Vote

Graham-Cassidy Healthcare Repeal Will Not Come to a Vote

Yesterday afternoon Senate Republicans announced that the Graham-Cassidy bill, which would repeal the Affordable Care Act and make sweeping cuts to Medicaid, would not be brought up for a vote. Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul all oppose the bill, so it lacks the fifty votes to pass the Senate. This is the fourth attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, all the attempts have failed, and they have all run into similar obstacles. All Democrats in Congress op

Companies Should Pursue Innovation for Drugs, Not Loopholes

Companies Should Pursue Innovation for Drugs, Not Loopholes

Big Pharma’s creativity is impressive, but unfortunately it often doesn’t help consumers. Sometime big drug companies create helpful new drugs, but their creativity more often take the form of finding new loopholes and legal devices to stifle competition and keep inexpensive generic drugs off the market. We recently wrote about the drug company Allergan’s latest attempt to block affordable access—transferring the patents for the dry eye medicine Restasis to the St. Regis Moha

Drug Price Reforms on Capitol Hill

Drug Price Reforms on Capitol Hill

Americans are angry about high drug prices and strongly support measures to reduce them and promote access to affordable medicine. But on Capitol Hill, little progress has been made over the last several months, despite the issue’s popularity. Why has Congress failed to take action? In a new article, Jay Hancock notes that attempts to curb skyrocketing drug costs have been sidetracked by debates over the Affordable Care Act and by lobbying from drug companies. Senators and Re

PBMs Are Harming Cancer Patients

PBMs Are Harming Cancer Patients

Over the last generation, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have assumed greater and greater roles in our prescription drug system. Originally they were merely supposed to manage drug benefits, but now they manage pharmacy benefit plans, negotiate with drug companies, and decide what drugs patients will get and from where they will get this. In many cases they now interfere with treatments and attempt to dictate what physicians can and cannot do. A recent paper by the Communit

PBM Accountability is Vital for Employers, Too

PBM Accountability is Vital for Employers, Too

Today most pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), despite their assurances, contribute to higher costs in the drug supply chain. Some PBMs have transformed themselves into giant organizations that are well-organized and lobby policymakers to protect their interests, and fight fiercely against efforts to make their operations transparent or to hold them accountable. The Midwest Business Group on Health, a nonprofit business group of self-insured public and private employers, recent

Back from the Dead: One Last Attempt at ACA Repeal

Back from the Dead: One Last Attempt at ACA Repeal

There they go again. Senate Republicans are trying one last ditch attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The latest version is called the Graham-Cassidy bill, and Senator McConnell is attempting to push it through before September 30th, when their power to pass health care legislation with only 51 votes expires. But the latest version is like an unwanted sequel--more of the same and nothing new. Like the previous repeal attempts, millions of people would lose their health

Allergan Is Trying to Hide Its Patents for a Popular Drug. This is an Attack on Competition.

Allergan Is Trying to Hide Its Patents for a Popular Drug. This is an Attack on Competition.

Brand-name drug companies have engaged in all sorts of strategies to block generic competition and prolong their monopolies on various medicines. But this new strategy is the most blatant yet. The drug company Allergan, which makes the popular eye drug Restasis, announced last week that it has transferred its patents to the St. Regis Mohawk tribe in upstate New York. This is a bold attempt to prevent Restasis's patent from expiring and to prevent generic drugs from coming to

California Assembly Passes Bill to Make Drug Prices Transparent

California Assembly Passes Bill to Make Drug Prices Transparent

This Monday, September 11th, the California Assembly passed Senate Bill 17, which will promote prescription drug price transparency. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by a margin of 66-9. The chief sponsor, State Senator Ed Hernandez, praised the outcome and said "drug companies threw everything they had at this bill, but the Assembly stood up for consumers." The legislature's approval of drug price transparency legislation is an excellent first step toward ensuring all Am

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Featured Posts

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)

Congress Bans Gag-Clauses on Pharmacists

Congress Bans Gag-Clauses on Pharmacists

Letter from David A. Balto on behalf of Consumer Action and CPPC to the Federal Trade Commission, re

Letter from David A. Balto on behalf of Consumer Action and CPPC to the Federal Trade Commission, re

The Promise of Biosimilars

The Promise of Biosimilars

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