BIO Vice Chair to testify on price controls – plus, what they said about PBMs

A busy week on Capitol Hill continues with BIO Vice Chair John Crowley testifying on the Inflation Reduction Act’s price controls, and a recap of the bipartisan consensus on PBMs from yesterday. Plus, BIO SVP Phyllis Arthur will speak at UNGA in New York. (679 words, 3 minutes, 23 seconds)

Preview: BIO Vice Chair John Crowley to testify on price controls

Today’s House hearing on how Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) price controls limit innovation and access to medicine will feature testimony from John Crowley, Chairman of Amicus Therapeutics and BIO Board Vice Chair.

The hearing: The House Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will explore how Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) implementation of price controls “will result in fewer lifesaving cures and treatments and negative outcomes for patients.”

Not “negotiation”: The hearing memo notes drug makers are forced into non-negotiable price “negotiations,” must agree to accept a price before entering “negotiations,” and lack due process to appeal CMS decisions.

BIO agrees—and opposes the IRA’s drug price controls and CMS guidance and handling of the process, which will inhibit investment and innovation.

Congress will hear from someone who knows: John Crowley, who has worked to develop treatments for Pompe disease, a rare and severe neuromuscular disorder afflicting two of his children. A Navy combat veteran, he also promotes veterans’ access to care.

What to expect: Aiken Hackett, BIO’s VP of Federal Government Relations, previews the hearing and tells us what to expect. Watch:

We’ll be watching—stay tuned for more tomorrow.

More reading:The IRA makes the risks of developing new drugs too high, says Peter J. Pitts in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

House discusses PBM abuses and other health priorities

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) profit at the expense of patients and drug makers by driving up drug prices, agreed bipartisan lawmakers during two House hearings that tackled a range of important health priorities yesterday.

What happened:The Committee on Oversight and Accountability investigated the market impact of PBMs pocketing rebates they demand from drug makers for greenlighting insurance coverage. The Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee discussed 25 bills, in a hearing on access to innovative treatments.

In Energy & Commerce: Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) blamed PBMs and vertical integration for higher drug prices. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) said for 80% of the top 100 rebated drugs, patients spent nearly four times as much as plan sponsors.

Bipartisan agreement: Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) said Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National Coverage Determinations (NCDs) limit access. “We’re entering a golden age of medicine thanks to breakthroughs in genomics, mRNA, multicancer blood tests, and other new diagnostics,” but poor NCDs interfere, added Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA).

Alzheimer’s concerns: Reps. Ann Kuster (D-NH) and Neal Dunn, M.D. (R-FL) said the FIND Act would ensure imaging NCDs facilitate Alzheimer’s treatments.

Supporting kidney care: the Kidney PATIENT Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure access to oral-only ESRD drugs in Medicare, was also raised by Rep. Kuster.

Home infusion therapies: Rep. Dunn urged support of the Joe Fiandra Access to Home Infusion Act, legislation he sponsors with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

In the Oversight Committee: Chair James Comer (R-KY) blasted “spread pricing, where PBMs overcharge payers and underpay pharmacies, and pocket the extra money.”

A PBM investigation by Oversight Committee Democrats exposed “profit-maximizing pricing practices,” said Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD). PBMs took $50 billion in rebates in 2021 that weren’t passed on to patients, he said.

Bipartisan agreement: PBMs favor pharmacies they own, hurting others, said witness Hugh Chancy of the National Community Pharmacists Association. Bipartisan critics of consolidation and vertical integration included Reps. Comer and Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Nancy Mace (R-SC), Jake LaTurner (R-KS), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Pat Fallon (R-TX).

BIO’s view: BIO strongly supports PBM transparency legislation.

More News:

Nature: Why the pandemic treaty risks becoming COVID-19 groundhog day
“Proclamations of equity and solidarity will be heard this week (today) as diplomats meet at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to talk about preparing for future pandemics. But these will be hollow sentiments. In spite of a promising start to talks on the world’s first treaty on pandemic prevention and preparedness, negotiations have stalled. Tensions between countries are so high that an agreement by the target date of May 2024 is now unlikely.” (BTW, you can watch Phyllis Arthur, BIO’s SVP of Infectious Disease & Emerging Science Policy, speak at a panel today—watch here live at 3 PM ET.)

President Biden’s Wednesday: Meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil in New York, AP reports.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: The big event is the House Energy & Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee detailed above. Meanwhile, support for emerging American technology will be discussed at House Energy & Commerce and Ways and Means hearings on China and the supply chain.