#drug-price-reform

#drug-price-reform

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges in November 2020, admitting it lacked an effective program to prevent its prescription painkillers from being diverted to the black market.

I was devastated. I had been able to get Zepbound for a $30 monthly copay and had lost 50 pounds in a year. The drug helped me focus on being a new mom and gaining strength at the gym, not just counting calories burned.

Senate Republicans voted in the early hours of Thursday morning to reject an amendment offered by Sen. Bernie Sanders that aimed to cut US prescription drug prices in half by mandating that Americans pay no more for medications than people in Canada and other wealthy nations.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the decision in a post on X, noting that the DOJ would immediately move state-licensed marijuana and FDA-approved marijuana products to Schedule III alongside Tylenol with codeine, ketamine, and steroids.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the measures are intended to ensure fair distribution while supply issues are addressed, with pharmacies instructed to follow the temporary dispensing limits.

The IRA requires drugmakers to sell selected patented drugs to the government for its Medicare Parts B & D programs at a stipulated "maximum fair price". If they don't agree to these prices, then they face tax penalties on sales of the drug exceeding their profits from it, or the exclusion of all their drugs from Medicare and Medicaid purchases. This would foreclose access to up to 160 million patients, accounting for around 40% of US prescription drug spending or 20% of global prescription drug spending.

CMS officials said the proposal is intended to improve the accuracy of payments and simplify the billing system. We do not want risk adjustment to be a source of competitive advantage for health plans, Chris Klomp, CMS deputy administrator and director of Medicare, told the Journal. Medicare Advantage is a major revenue driver for insurers and federal payment policies can have substantial financial impacts. The proposed 0.09% increase would translate to roughly $700 million in additional payments across the industry, the report said.