Somewhere Bernie Sanders is smiling. But he shouldn’t be. A recent study (published in JAMA) found that "estimated cost-based prices" for a range of common diabetes drugs were "substantially lower than current market prices" -- and not just in developed countries like the United States, but also in developing ones like India and Bangladesh. This finding, while technically true, is worse than uninformative. It is misinformative ..read more

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Today the New York Times ran a few letters-to-the-editor on it's op-ed on Ozempic and the costs and benefits of GLP-1 agonists. Mine didn't make the cut this time -- but here it is for your consideration ..read more

When payers (most notably Medicare) look at GLP-1 receptor agonists, they see only the cost. That’s like the FDA reviewing risks while ignoring benefits when considering new medicines. It has to be about value. And when it comes to measuring value, we must embrace a comprehensive view of cost and benefit. Regarding GLP-1 receptor agonists, the proper denominator isn’t cost; it’s value. Choosing only to only discuss costs without context is dishonest and deleterious to public health ..read more

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Medicare beneficiaries paid four times more for prescription drugs than their plan sponsors did in 2021, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on Medicare Part D drugs. According to the report, beneficiaries paid $21 billion for prescription drugs in 2021, while plan sponsors only paid about $5.3 billion, according to the study of 79 of the 100 Part D drugs with the most rebates ..read more

Welcome to the world of therapeutic use of tissues – an exciting and evolving arena of 21st century medicine and one of the many areas of medical products regulated by the FDA. And, as with many other areas of the agency’s jurisdiction, peculiar bureaucratic intervention and lack of clarity are causing harm to patients and costing American jobs ..read more

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