by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Oct 22, 2010 | Drug Prices
We often report about policies affecting access to safe and affordable medication through personal drug importation, and advocate for laws that help American patients – not corporate profits. Like safe personal drug importation, faster access to generic drugs right here at home would make prescription drugs more affordable for uninsured and under-insured Americans. Unfortunately, last month the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made a decision that adversely affects consumers but benefits pharmaceutical manufactures of both brand and generic drugs. The court decided to decline a review of the “pay-to-delay” ruling of Arkansas Carpenters Health and Welfare Fund v. Bayer AG means that, once again, pharmaceutical profits are protected at the expense of greater consumer access to affordable medication.
The decision declares that Bayer, the manufacturer of Cipro, an anti-infection drug, is lawful in paying Barr Laboratories, a large generic drug manufacturing company, $400 million to not challenge Bayer’s patent, which protects the high price now charged for Cipro. When generic drug manufacturers successfully challenge the validity of a patent, they are able to more quickly manufacture and sell low-cost versions of the drugs. Settlements that prevent such patent challenges cost consumers $3.5 billion a year, according to Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz.
The 2nd Court’s decision was based on that same court’s earlier ruling of In re Tamoxifen Citrate Antitrust Litigation, 466, F. 3d 187 (2006), which found pay-offs to generic drug companies do not violate anti-trust law. There have been 53 similar pharmaceutical patent settlements, resulting in a variety of drugs with prices out of reach for many American patients.
Such rulings indicate that American patients can only win if the issue is decided differently by the Supreme Court or, and more likely, Congress changes the law.
Senator Herb Kohl is one congressman looking to make this happen. Senator Kohl introduced the Preserve Access to Affordable Generic Drugs Act (S. 369), legislation, which is still pending, to combat the practice of pay-off agreements between pharmaceutical companies and reduce the number of pay-for-delay settlements that keep generic drugs off the market. This legislation would be a big step in protecting consumer’s interests and health costs, and we hope for its success.
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Barr Laboritories, Bayer, brand name drugs, Cipro, Drug Prices, generics, health, pay-to-delay, pharmaceutical companies, pharmaceuticals, phrma, Senator Herb Kohl, Tamoxifen, United States
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Sep 23, 2010 | Healthcare Reform
Our health care focus at PharmacyChecker.com is, of course, prescription drug safety and savings. But today we want to simply recognize and report on the first real benefits to come from the now six-month-old health care law. Health insurance companies must make some seriously consumer-friendly changes. As of now, insurers:
– Must not exclude children from coverage because of pre-existing health conditions. The White House has noted that this may explain coverage to 72,000 children who were previously insured.
– Must offer adult children under the age of 26 coverage under their parent’s health plans.
– Will be prohibited from dropping customers due to technical mistakes on their applications. (more…)
Tagged with: health reform, Healthcare Reform
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Sep 2, 2010 | Healthcare Reform, Medicare Drug Plans
About three million seniors enrolled in Medicare may have to switch their prescription drug benefit plan next year, says TheHill.com. The changes are due to provisions of the healthcare law that seek to make it easier for people to choose Medicare Part D plans. However, the process of change itself may be messy for many. The purpose is to create fewer plans per region by requiring that plan sponsors drop plans that offer no “meaningful differences” from other plans offered by those same sponsors. Prior to the passage of healthcare legislation, many experts had criticized the number of available plans as too complicated and called for such streamlining.
But critics point out that these changes break the Obama administration’s promise that consumers can keep their current plans. The final changes are yet to be determined, but they are expected to make things easier for first time enrollees and more difficult for customers already participating in the plans.
Unfortunately, some Medicare enrollees discover that their plans do not cover the drugs they need, forcing them to pay out-of-pocket for such products. Comparing prices online at PharmacyChecker.com can help.
To read and write reviews of Medicare drug plans, see our sister site, MedicareDrugPlans.com.
Tagged with: drug benefit plan, health, Medicare Drug Plans, medicaredrugplans.com, Part D
