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The good news: The House passed PBM reform legislation yesterday. The bad news: FTC M&A overreach is causing “lasting damage” to American life sciences innovation, experts write, with another blow for patients this week. (693 words, 3 minutes, 27 seconds) |
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House passes PBM reform legislation |
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Yesterday, the House approved legislation with the first pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reforms to pass a full chamber, by a bipartisan vote of 320–71. The “Lower Costs, More Transparency Act” would require PBMs to disclose drug rebates and discounts, revealing what they pay drug makers for prescription drugs. The bill would also require hospitals, insurance companies, labs, imaging providers, and ambulatory surgical centers to publicly list the prices they charge patients.
The bill was led by: House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ); House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-MO); and House Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC).
Why it matters: PBMs are middlemen between drug makers, health plans, and pharmacies, using market power and opaque practices to profit by driving up drug prices. BIO has been pushing for reform as the appetite for PBM legislation has grown in Congress this year.
What they’re saying: “This bipartisan legislation delivers on our commitment to lowering health care costs and providing increased transparency for patients—something 95% of Americans support,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers. Rep. Pallone added: “This bipartisan bill is a victory for everyone who has ever struggled to navigate and understand the cost of a health care procedure or a prescription drug.”
What’s next: The bill goes to the Senate. While it is not expected to pass in its current form, many of the policies in the bill could eventually pass the Senate, STAT reports.
More reading:Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Buddy Carter (R-GA) explain in The Hill why we need to pass PBM reform. Ask your lawmaker to support PBM reform—click here to learn more and send your message today.
Watch highlights from the House floor: |
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FTC M&A actions cause ‘lasting’ damage to biotech innovation and patients |
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“Antitrust overreach is hurting companies, employees, and consumers,” write Yale management experts Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian in Forbes. Biopharmaceutical innovation and patients are already feeling the impact.
What's happening: The FTC has been engaging in “increasingly brazen and counterproductive antitrust anti-merger overreach,” they write, “hurting American global competitiveness and innovation, even in fields such as life-saving medicines.”
Case in point: When the FTC sought to “block Sanofi’s proposed licensing deal for Maze Therapeutics’ clinical-stage Pompe disease treatment,” Sanofi terminated the agreement because they expected any lawsuit with the FTC to be “lengthy,” reports Endpoints News.
What they’re saying: “We are disappointed to learn of the FTC’s unprecedented challenge to our license agreement with Sanofi for our investigational GYS1 program—to our knowledge this is the first time ever the FTC has moved to block a license of a Phase I investigational medicine,” Maze CEO Jason Coloma said in a statement.
The impact on patients: Sanofi sought to license “Phase II-ready MZE001, along with backup programs and IP around Maze’s GYS1 program. If it succeeds in the clinic, MZE001 would be the first oral treatment for patients with Pompe,” explains Endpoints.
Other examples: The FTC filed suit against Amgen to block its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, “despite the companies having no overlapping products (the first time this has ever happened for any pharmaceutical company) and the FTC was closely scrutinizing Pfizer’s purchase of Seagen to advance no-overlap cancer drugs,” explain Sonnenfeld and Tian. (Note: Pfizer announced this morning that they received all required regulatory approvals to complete the acquisition.)
The FTC paused and settled the Amgen-Horizon suit, but the “damage…has been lasting, with biotech venture capital investments down 25% this quarter, partially spurred by investor concerns over FTC interference, resulting in fewer new drugs being brought to market,” note Sonnenfeld and Tian.
What’s ahead: At a June 2022 workshop, antitrust experts urged the FTC to “look across the full spectrum of biopharma deals,” even “early, unproven products,” explains Endpoints. We’ll continue to watch this issue into the new year. |
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President Biden’s Tuesday: Hosting Ukrainian President Zelensky at the White House and holding a joint press conference in the evening “at a critical moment in congressional negotiations for emergency aid to Ukraine,” per CNN. What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Senators will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee will mark up legislation today, including the SUPPORT Act reauthorization bill. |
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