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The path that prescription drugs take from the lab to your medicine chest is a long and complicated one. And the journey is made still more complex by the role of a very important, but little understood middleman known as the pharmacy benefits manager. These companies fill a crucial role by negotiating with drug makers on behalf of health plans, unions, and some employers to get the best price, which is particularly critical as the cost of medicines is ever-rising. Yet PBMs also stir controversy over concerns they may not always pass along savings — called rebates — they negotiate for their clients, but instead pocket those funds to fatten their own bottom lines. (Ed SIlverman, 8/2)

When Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Sovaldi became the first of the more effective medicines to hit the market, in 2013, its $84,000 list price — $1,000 a pill — caused sticker shock for payers nationwide. Fearing their budgets would be drained by a rush of people who wanted to get well instead of living with uncertainty, many insurers limited access to Sovaldi. Even from a cold-blooded accountant’s perspective, it was a foolish policy — providing months or years of medical care for someone suffering from cirrhosis costs much more. (7/29)

In a May article in Health Affairs, we proposed that the federal government consider using an existing law to negotiate or compel lower drug prices in the United States for certain important drugs with excessive prices. We’ve been gratified at the interest the proposal has generated on Health Affairs Blog and elsewhere. We believe it illuminates a significant opportunity to improve access to important medicines, and also to more efficiently allocate our health care dollars. (Amy Kapczynski and Aaron Kesselheim, 7/28)

Amy Kapczynski and Aaron Kesselheim proposed in Health Affairs that the federal government reduce the price of on-patent prescription drugs using an obscure federal law (codified as 28 USC 1498) to either threaten to, or actually, seize patent rights to drugs in a manner similar to eminent domain. The idea is that the federal government would “produce or import low-cost versions of patented medicines” itself, while paying the drug company that previously controlled the patent “reasonable and entire compensation” according to some vaguely measure. (Robert Book, 8/1)

In a recent guest piece on STAT entitled “Say what you will about Donald Trump. He’s right about drug companies,” Dr. Charles D. Rosen enthusiastically supports Mr. Trump’s negative views on the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Rosen, a clinical professor of orthopedic surgery at UC Irvine, believes that the Republican presidential nominee is correct on some key issues including: allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies; [and] allowing cheaper pharmaceutical drugs manufactured abroad to be sold in the U.S. (John LaMattina, 8/1)

The quality of many of our lives has been dramatically improved by prescription drugs. Unfortunately, these improvements come at a price – the increased price of prescription drugs. According to a recent AARP study, retail prescription drug prices have increased six times faster than the general inflation rate since 2006. Premiums and out-of-pocket costs reflect this increasing cost. That’s a big problem for everybody, but especially for seniors, many of whom haven’t seen a comparable increase in their income. (Pam Zerba, 7/27)

More than 1 million people in Georgia live with diabetes and are at risk for developing chronic, debilitating and potentially permanent nerve pain, known as diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Currently, the American Diabetes Association estimates that more than 60 percent of Americans with diabetes also suffer from diabetic peripheral neuropathy. ... Left untreated or uncontrolled, DPN can cause irreversible damage, including complete loss of lower extremity sensation that can result in amputation. Fortunately, Georgia lawmakers are recognizing the seriousness of DPN. Last month, the General Assembly held Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy Alert Day in order to raise awareness of this dangerous condition. (Jonathan Ownby, 7/28)