U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling for an investigation into the NIH’s proposed grant of an exclusive patent license for a late-stage cervical cancer drug to a small company linked to a former NIH researcher.
A week before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on the confirmation of Monica Bertagnolli as the next NIH director, she faced a grilling by the committee fueled by drug pricing agendas and deals the Biden administration made with certain lawmakers to advance her nomination.
When it comes to recommending reforms for the U.S.’ 30-year-old 340B Drug Discount Program, there’s one thing drug manufacturers and hospitals agree on – pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and other middlemen should not be profiting from a program that’s intended to help uninsured and vulnerable patients gain access to affordable prescription drugs or other health care services.
While U.S. politics continues to delay Senate confirmation of the NIH director, other crucial positions at the agency that don’t require Senate action are being filled. Acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak announced Aug. 2 that he has named Jeanne Marrazzo as director of the agency’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
While U.S. politics continues to delay Senate confirmation of the NIH director, other crucial positions at the agency that don’t require Senate action are being filled. Acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak announced Aug. 2 that he has named Jeanne Marrazzo as director of the agency’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
A day after grilling top executives from the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the U.S. about their business practices and the impact they have on prescription drug prices, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 18-3 May 11 to favorably report the bipartisan PBM Reform Act to the full Senate.
In its first markup of the 118th Congress May 2, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, under the new leadership of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), devolved into a brief mutiny of sorts as the committee members started to take up four bipartisan bills aimed at taming prescription drug prices.
Following up on a bipartisan effort to keep down the costs of insulin, U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) reintroduced a bill on April 20 to ensure patients with diabetes can access the life-saving medicine without the excess costs associated with drug rebates and stymied competition.
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has its work cut out for it as it crafts bipartisan legislation “that will take on the worst practices by drug-pricing middlemen and ensure that the prescription drug supply chain is pulling in the same direction: more competition and lower costs for patients and taxpayers,” committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said.
Now that the U.S. FDA has granted accelerated approval for Biogen Inc./Eisai Co. Ltd.’s early Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi (lecanemab), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is being pressured to rethink its coverage of amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibodies.
