An "American entitlement" is difficult to walk back once its established, Jennifer Steinhauer with the New York Times writes, and Republicans are wrestling with a law whose roots have spread far and thick. Since its creation, the Affordable Care Act has had a target on its back as Republicans […]
Q&A: Taking a Look at President Trump’s Drug Agenda
Federal Government Relations Practice Group Leader Michael Strazzella and Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney shareholder William Garvin sat down for a question-and-answer with Becker's Hospital Review Editor Laura Dyrda to discuss President Donald Trump's efforts to slash drug prices. Garvin during […]
ICER Releases Report on Ovarian Cancer Inhibitors
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review is accepting public comments on its Draft Evidence Report for olaparib, niraparib and rucaparib, all of which are poly ADP-ribose polymerase inhibitors used in ovarian cancer treatment. According to a press release issued by ICER, the report will be […]
Same Condition, Different Costs: NPC to Address Contentious Question
The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) will bring to focus a contentious issue in the health care industry: Why do some patients with the same condition sometimes have different out-of-pocket costs than others for their medicines? In a free, online webinar titled "Same Condition, Different […]
PhRMA Initiative to Discuss Cost of Medicine
PhRMA is looking to kick up a national dialogue about the cost of modern medicine with its "Let's Talk About Cost" initiative. PhRMA Executive Vice President of Public Affairs Robert Zirkelbach says an ongoing question-and-answer conversation will persist throughout the year in "print, radio, […]
CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting Services Adds HEOR Directors
CTI Clinical Trial and Consulting Services (CTI) announced Monday the addition of two researchers to their Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) department. According to a press release, Frank Ernst will join the team as the HEOR executive director; Michael Minshall has been named the […]
3 Keys to Value-Based Drug Pricing
KPMG Principal Peter Gilmore provided a rundown on three keys to make value-based drug pricing successful in an article on Forbes: "focus on the right patients ... keep it simple ... and keep costs reasonable." Gilmore says the value-based model is gaining traction due to the schism between […]
Chen: Plan to Reduce Drug Prices Would Have Opposite Effect
Writer Michelle Chen in her report on The Nation claims Congress' health-care reform efforts "will actually make America sicker." Chen also says a leaked "draft executive order" proposed by President Donald Trump to cut drug prices "promises to make medicines more expensive." "Perhaps the most […]
Analyst: Amgen, Teva Price Hikes Not Forced by PBMs, Rebates
Bernstein Analyst Ronny Gal says there are solid data points which provide a foundation for the argument some drug companies raise prices "because they can," not because they're working to keep up with pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and rebates. According to a report by Gal, Amgen increased the […]
Is Disunity Among Liberals a Massive Roadblock to Single Payer?
According to writer Paul Waldman, one of the bigger obstacles facing Democrats' efforts to bring a single-payer health care system to the forefront is the party's disjointed approach. Waldman points to a recent bill in California which would have paved the way for a single-payer model, but was […]
Dr. Pearson Says Patient Perspectives Key in Review Process
In an interview with the American Journal of Managed Care (AJMC), Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) President Dr. Steve Pearson said patient perspectives are vital to its review process. Pearson said from "the very beginning" of the review process, ICER makes contact with patient […]
Strensiq Price Cut to Increase Availability
U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Alexion says it will decrease the cost of Strensiq, a potentially life-saving treatment for paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia. Strensiq, which originally cost $471,000 per year for treatment, was in February limited to children through a guidance issued by the […]
WaPo: Is the GOP Planning to Repeal ACA Without Immediate Replacement?
In a video compilation on the Washington Post, some Republicans floated the idea lawmakers should proceed with repealing the Affordable Care Act without replacing it in the same bill. President Donald Trump first mentioned such an approach last week. "If the replacement part is too difficult for […]
Analysis: Shkreli Trial Spotlights Anger Over Drug Prices
Jury selection in Martin Shkreli's securities fraud trial have made one thing clear: He's seemingly become the face of high drug prices. In an analysis piece, Washington Post Reporter Carolyn Johnson writes potential jurors seemed to have difficulty seeing past Shkreli's decision to increase the […]
Syndicated Report Available: How Payers Want to Work with Pharma
A recently-published syndicated report titled "How Payers Want to Work with Pharma" aims to bolster relations between the pharmaceutical industry and payers. The payer-led report takes aim at an industry which payers say can too often fall short on disclosure of all relevant material, or provide an […]
CER Making Its Mark in Health Care Marketplace
Although comparative effectiveness research (CER) is still a relatively recent scientific discipline, its rapid expansion has helped thrust it into the spotlight. International Society For Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Chief Science Officer Dr. Richard Wilke says a core principle of CER […]
A Look at the FDA’s Guidance to Help PhRMA Talk HCEI with Payers
Some 20 years after the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act introduced Section 114 (FDAMA114), which amended the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA issued a guidance on the law. "FDAMA114 allowed manufacturers the ability to communicate truthful and non-misleading health care economic […]
Health Proposal is ‘Very Cruel War on the Poor,’ Sebelius and Pollack write
In a Health Affairs report published Tuesday, writers Kathleen Sebelius and Ron Pollack described recent Republican health care proposals as a 'very cruel war on the poor.' "By far, no demographic group would be hurt more by these legislative proposals than low-income people," the authors write. […]
HE.Com Blog: Success Strategies for the HEOR, Market Access Job Market
The job market for HEOR, Market Access, Medical Affairs and Real World Evidence is as hot as an Arizona airport jetway! There is no shortage of jobs for individuals with skills in health economics, outcomes research, value assessment, informatics and data analytics, medical affairs, and related […]
ICER Partners with VA Office for Drug Coverage, Price Negotiations
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) announced Tuesday it will work with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Pharmacy Benefits Management Services (PBM) office in drug coverage and price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. ICER, according to a press release, will […]
Continuum Clinical, Skipta Join Forces to Launch New Center
Continuum Clinical (CC) and Skipta say they are partnering to kick off the Center for Observational Research, which aims to connect "physicians and available 'real world' research opportunities within a private and secure digital environment," according to Business Wire. Skipta on its website touts […]
NPC: Hurdles Impede Value-Based Contracts
Although the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) recognizes the benefits of value-based contracts, it says there are "existing barriers" which hinder both the development and implementation of such contracts. Value-based contracting, according to the NPC, has seen relatively low activity in an […]
NPC Comments on ICER’s Value Assessment Framework
The National Pharmaceutical Council said the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review's recently-released value assessment framework incorporated some of its suggestions. In line with its suggestions, NPC said ICER "will not implement an untested methodology to quantitatively incorporate patient […]
Study: Scientific Citations Favor Positive Results
A recent report published June 8 on citation bias found scientific citations tend to lean toward more positive results. According to the report, citation bias occurred most frequently in biomedical sciences articles and was least frequent in natural sciences. Researchers mulled over 52 studies […]
Sharing Data from Interventional Clinical Trials
"The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) believes there is an ethical obligation to responsibly share data generated by interventional clinical trials because trial participants have put themselves at risk. In January 2016 we published a proposal aimed at helping to create an […]
Can a Value-Based Health Care System Work in Europe?
Harvard Economist Michael Porter has been hailed as the father of value-based health care, but do his proposals which focus on the patient mesh with Europe's universal health care system? Advocates of value-based care, according to an article on Science|Business by Gary Finnegan, claim "putting the […]
Opinion: Is Trump Walking Back Vows to Tackle Drug Prices?
Despite Trump's past comments suggesting he was taking aim at drugmakers over drug pricing — going so far as to say they're "getting away with murder" — it appears he's "about to grant them a presidential pardon," Ed Silverman, senior writer and Pharmalot columnist, wrote in an opinion piece on STAT […]
Head of CMTP Tunis Elected President of HTAi
Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Tunis has been elected the new president of Health Technology Assessment International (HTAi). Tunis will serve a two-year term, which began Wednesday, according to a press release issued by CMTP. His goal will […]
Senators Talk Price, Value and Health Reform
June 13 brought the first of three planned hearings on drug prices by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP). The first meeting focused primarily on the basics: the evolution of drug prices, gross spending and patient costs, and which forces are behind the […]
KHN: Trump’s Drug Agenda Influenced by Pharmaceutical Industry
Kaiser Health News said documents related to President Donald Trump's agenda to lower drug prices revealed "behind-the-scene discussions influenced by the pharmaceutical industry." According to KHN, senior White House staff on June 16 discussed a pending executive order on pharmaceutical costs, a […]
