Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Valeant Taps Attorney, 'High-Stakes' Crisis Public Affairs Firm
U.S. pharmaceuticals firm Valeant, under mounting pressure from Congress and prosecutors over its drug pricing, has hired an attorney in Washington, D.C., and crisis public relations experts with political connections, according to sources familiar with the matter. The move, confirmed by sources and through documents viewed by Reuters, signals a shift for Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which does not maintain a large presence on Capitol Hill. (12/13)
It鈥檚 a long way from Manhattan, where Turing Pharmaceuticals this fall raised the price of a generic drug to fight parasitic infections by 5,000 percent. The aim, in the words of founder Martin Shkreli, was 鈥渢o make as much money as possible.鈥 But in this Central Massachusetts town, a small team of drug industry veterans has launched a startup to counter Turing and other biopharma price gougers by making affordable generic medicines to treat critical diseases. And they鈥檙e doing it as a nonprofit (Weisman, 12/14)
Some consumers are dealing with the high cost of prescriptions by聽bypassing doctors and taking matters into their own hands -
As anyone who needs insulin to treat diabetes can tell you, that usually means regular checkups at the doctor鈥檚 office to fine-tune the dosage, monitor blood-sugar levels and check for complications. But here鈥檚 a little known fact: Some forms of insulin can be bought without a prescription. (Tribble, 12/14)
