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With a fight over drug prices expected next year, drug companies have been funneling significant political contributions toward Republican candidates, fearful of what a full Democratic takeover of Washington might mean for the industry, according to a STAT analysis. (Scott, 11/2)

Until this week, when big increases in insurance premiums were unveiled for next year, the federal health law has not been a major issue in the presidential election. In fact, fixing what ails the Affordable Care Act isn’t even among voters’ top priorities for health issues for next year, according to a new poll. (Rovner, 10/27)

Facebook wants a much bigger cut of the billions that pharma companies spend every year on advertising. And that means you’re soon likely to see more drug ads — both overt and stealthy — on social media.The in-your-face variety will likely look like the mobile Facebook ad just launched by Bayer. All the small print warning of a drug’s possible side effects flits by in an automated scroll, technology that Facebook is using for the first time for the pharma industry. (Robbins, 11/1)

Kendall Jack was dismayed when her health plan stopped covering her migraine drug Treximet earlier this year. To buy a pack at the pharmacy would cost $750, compared with a $20 copay when the drug was covered. “Nothing’s worth $750 for nine pills,” she said. “It’s cruel.” (Roland, 10/30)

At first, the researchers who discovered insulin agonized about whether to patent the drug at all. It was 1921, and the team of biochemists and physicians based in Toronto was troubled by the idea of profiting from a medicine that had such widespread human value, one that could transform diabetes from a death sentence into a manageable disease. Ultimately, they decided to file for a patent — and promptly sold it to the University of Toronto for $3, or $1 for each person listed. (Johnson, 10/31)

Makers of insulin became the latest target for Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been going after pharmaceutical companies one by one over the issue of high U.S. drug prices. Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. fell after the senator, an independent lawmaker from Vermont, criticized the company and Novo Nordisk A/S over the price of insulin. Along with France’s Sanofi, they are among the world’s largest producers of the drugs, which are used by millions of diabetics. (Bloomfield, 11/1)

The drug-pricing worries  roiling pharmaceutical and middlemen’s stocks  have been brewing for a while, as the drug industry’s practice of taking regular increases triggered a public backlash that investors fear could hurt sales. (Rockoff, 10/28)

It’s been a brutal October for health-care investors. The worst may be yet to come. A year after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton first tweeted about outrageous price gouging, the reality of pricing pressure in the U.S. hit Wall Street in the most concrete way: earnings. (Bloomfield, 10/28)

Poverty and higher out-of-pocket drug costs may be the main reason that some women don’t stick with hormone therapy designed to prevent breast cancer from coming back, a recent U.S. study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on about 8,700 women who had breast cancer and at least one prescription for pills to curb production of the hormone estrogen - which can fuel tumor growth - or pills to stop estrogen from attaching to cancer cells. (Rapaport, 11/1)

The drug industry is showing signs it is slowing the pace of price increases after years of hefty hikes, alarming shareholders worried that pressure from politicians, consumers and employers will continue to stifle pricing power. Shares of many drugmakers, wholesale distributors and pharmacy-benefit managers were battered Friday on new evidence in corporate earnings reports that pharmaceutical companies are declining to ratchet up prices as sharply as in previous years. McKesson Corp., one of the largest wholesale drug distributors, shed a quarter of its market value after disclosing that competition and a slowdown in price inflation for brand-name drugs would reduce its profits for its current fiscal year. (Loftus, 10/28)

The next leader of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will have to make drug prices a top priority, the agency’s current acting administrator said Tuesday. “The person sitting in my chair next isn’t going to have a choice but to make this one of their top two or three priorities,” Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of CMS on Tuesday told attendees of an America’s Health Insurance Plans conference on Medicare in D.C. To do that, CMS will need partnership from members of the Medicare Part D community, he said. (McIntire, 10/25)

Anna Edney, a healthcare reporter for Bloomberg News, discusses the nationwide increase in drug prices, and how there is plenty of blame to go around for the problem. She speaks with Alan Bjerga and Amy Morris on Bloomberg Radio’s "Politics, Policy and Power." (10/27)