The New York Times reports that “members of Congress from both parties expressed immense frustration at big increases in insulin prices and vowed to work together on legislation to prevent more people from dying because they could not afford the lifesaving medicine.” The hearing indicated “that Congress was serious about trying to address the cries of distress from constituents unable to afford the medicines they need.”
CBS News reports on its website that “drug manufacturers were grilled about the skyrocketing price of insulin, which has doubled in the last five years and led some patients to ration the life-saving drug.” CBS News adds that “a recent Journal of American Medical Association study found one in four patients reported ‘cost-related underuse.’”
CNN reports that at the hearing, held by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) “vehemently said during the hearing that prices of insulin are ‘curiously close’ between manufacturers and ‘way too high.’” Schakowsky added, “We have the names of people who have died because they couldn’t get their insulin. … This is a commitment on the part of the Congress to get drug prices – particularly life-saving life necessities – to get those prices under control. … Your days are numbered.” CNN adds that “last week, the US Food and Drug Administration announced that it intends to bring competition to the insulin market as a way to lower prices,” and “Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the agency would change how insulin is regulated in order to enable products that are biosimilar to, or interchangeable with, insulin to come to market.”
STAT reports that many lawmakers “appeared far more interested in threatening to blow up the entire drug pricing system than in hearing from the pharma company or pharmacy benefit manager executives who testified.” Witnesses at the hearing included Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Cigna’s Express Scripts, United Healthcare’s Optum, and CVS.
Modern Healthcare reports that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and insulin manufacturers “pointed fingers at one another over patient costs for insulin but ultimately urged lawmakers to keep the rebate system in place.” During the hearing, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) “told manufacturers his constituents are asking him to set list prices and demanded justification for why Congress shouldn’t follow that path.”
FiercePharma reports that during the hearing, “the drugmakers said their net prices have fallen in as the rebates they pay PBMs have mushroomed, while the PBMs argued their negotiations save health systems money.”
Walmart’s cheap insulin not as effective as newer formulations, analysis suggests. In an analysis, Vox reports that “while the insulin makers and pharmacy benefit managers, who negotiate drug prices on behalf of insurance companies, fumbled to explain themselves, one “solution” to the problem resurfaced on social media: Patients should just buy cheap insulin at Walmart.” The issue with this solution, Vox says, is that “Walmart’s low-cost insulin isn’t optimal for all patients” because the company’s fformulation“came on to the market in the 1980s,” and “newer insulins, known as analogs, appear to be more effective at preventing dangerous blood sugar swings, particularly in people with Type 1 diabetes.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
