Insight, analysis & opinion from Joe Paduda
In response to my post on new narcotic Fentora, which was picked up by Kevin, M.D. over at his blog, a physician reads the riot act to a commenter who said that docs should be blamed for any misuse.
Pundits and experts on the right side of the political spectrum are claiming that giving CMS the authority to negotiate drug prices will cost Americans $500 billion in lost productivity due to an annual loss of five million life years.
There are so many flaws in their arguments it’s hard to know where to start, but let’s plunge in.
Workers comp payers will be seeing a new drug on their top 25 lists soon – Fentora. While it may take a couple of years to attain Actiq’s top-five status, it will.
The outcome of the “can we or can’t we negotiate with drug manufacturers?” discussion is becoming clearer, as political realities appear to be saying “we can in some limited circumstances.”
Bob says it better than I could.
Boston’s Mayor is outraged at Humana’s decision to raise premiums on it’s basic Part D plan by 130%. Humana’s stockholders should be equally upset.
The pharma industry is still in a bit of a tizzy about the lawsuits alleging improprieties in pricing, with some saying there will be wholesale changes (pun intended) while others ho-hum the notion. But, as more information comes out regarding the McKesson – First DataBank suits, there appears to be more to the notion that changes are in the wind.
This is not just an item of passing interest; the plaintiffs in the suit alleged that these pricing practices have cost payers upwards of $6 billion over a three-year period.
Third party billers WorkingRx and Third Party Solutions may be for sale. The two pharmacy factoring companies together own the work comp script factoring business, a sector that has been under some pressure lately. According to several industry sources, the owners of both entities (Fiserv for TPS and investment firm Arcapita for WorkingRx) have engaged investment bankers to shop their respective companies.
Walmart will be introducing their discount program for selected generics to shoppers in California shortly, causing much gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes by pundits, independent pharmacies, and generic manufacturers.
What’s really going on here?
Wal-mart’s $4 generic program is growing – more stores, more states, and more scripts are now covered. The latest information has the giant retailer’s cheap program operating in over 3000 in-store pharmacies in 32 states. And, the list of drugs has expanded to include 331 prescriptions.
I’ve received some flak from readers who seem to object to my past posts questioning why Wal-mart is doing this.