The Politics of Drug Prices

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Yesterday the Biden Administration released the list of the first ten prescription drugs that will be subject to price negotiation with Medicare. And at the top of the list is Eliquis.

I take Eliquis because I have a history of TIAs, which are temporary strokes caused by blood clots in the brain. Eliquis is supposed to prevent the blood clots. It’s said to be a lot safer than the older drug for that purpose, Warfarin, and I get the impression that the nation’s doctors have been persuaded it’s the best drug available for people with my history.

I was heartened when I heard Eliquis was on the list, because it’s costing me a $47 a month copay with Medicare. The “list price” of the drug, according to Bristol Myers Squibb/Pfizer, is $561 for a 30-day supply. But I’ve run into other sources that say it sometimes retails for around $700-800 a month.

According to this 2022 news story, Eliquis and a similar drug, Xarelto, which also is on the list, have cost the government $46 billion since 2015.

Unfortunately, the reduced, negotiated price of Eliquis won’t go into effect until 2026. And I read recently there are generic versions already approved that are supposed to be released for sale in 2026. So the price would have dropped then, anyway.

From a 2019 news story about the generics:

As Bristol’s best-selling drug before the Celgene merger—even ahead of PD-1 inhibitor Opdivo—the drug delivered $5.9 billion to the company’s top line in the first nine months of 2019. Its 25% year-over-year growth rate during the period also far exceeded Opdivo’s 10%.

As for Pfizer, Eliquis delivered a total of $3.1 billion in the first nine months, mostly in revenue from its Bristol alliance but some via direct sales in smaller markets.

In 2017, 25 generics companies told Bristol that they had filed for FDA approval of their copycats. The pair soon erected a patent wall, launching lawsuits against all those drugmakers.

That August, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Eliquis a key composition of matter patent, extending it from February 2023 to November 2026. Bristol and Pfizer have argued that’s when Eliquis generics can enter.

So, during the Trump Administration, somebody allowed the pharma company to extend the patent three more years so the price gouging could continue.

I am acquainted with someone who somehow missed out on Medicare Part D and is working way past retirement just to pay for Eliquis, she told me.

I’m sure most of you remember when the Bush II Administration got Part D enacted only if price neogiations were prohibited. In Bushie world, this was supposed to make Medicare Part D a better deal for seniors. Right.

The price negotiation thing, once it’s fully into effect, really ought to bring drug prices down to something closer to what they are in other countries (about 80 percent less than what we pay, I understand). But that’s assuming Republicans don’t get control again and cancel it, which they are itching to do.

Piggybacking on the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy, Republicans are working to persuade Americans that the Biden plan will stifle innovation and lead to price controls, several strategists say.

“The price control is a huge departure from where we have been as a country,” said Joel White, a Republican health care strategist. “It gets politicians and bureaucrats right into your medicine cabinet.”

Better that than Big Pharma fatcats raiding my bank account, I say. And this has been another episode of “Why Free Market Capitalism Can’t Be Trusted to Provide Health Care.”

In Other News: Before any more time goes by, do see Biden’s course for U.S. on trade breaks with Clinton and Obama by David Lynch in WaPo.  No paywall. It says Biden is breaking with the old pro-globalization policies in favor of policies that are more protective of U.S. labor.

In More Other News: It’s reported that Mitch McConnell had another “freeze” moment today. Maybe he’s having TIAs. He can afford the bleeping Eliquis.

And So On: A judge rules that Rudy Giuliani is legally liable for defaming Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.

Worth Reading: Will Bunch, Journalism fails miserably at explaining what is really happening to America.

14 thoughts on “The Politics of Drug Prices”

  1. I've read of the obscene penalties seniors pay when they somehow miss a deadline or defer Medicare Part D until later – the words of my departed mother echo in my mind: "richest country in the world and we can't have decent health care". If anyone reading this is nearing retirement age, you've got to start researching this now. I used the videos and info on a site called "Boomer Benefits" to figure it out (completely free – I didn't need to call them or buy anything through them).

    I read about the Biden drug price negotiation in the news. The article I read rebutted the Republican talking point about price controls, by saying that the price of nearly everything Medicare provides is negotiated by the government. Get with the program, Republican flak.

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  2. PharmacyChecker says that Eliquis is 4.5 times more expensive in the US than in Germany.  President Uncle Joe had to 'compromise' with Joe Manchin on the bill to allow just 10 drugs to have the prices negotiated and take effect in 2026.

    As a person who receives their healthcare thru socialized medicine (VA) at no cost of any type, I have found it refreshing to have doctors making decisions based upon best practices rather than for-profit doctors making decisions based on covering their asses against lawsuits and based upon maximizing their income.

    There was a lot more in Little George's Medicare Part D for the for-profit health care industry than for the working classes.

    Obama moved a half step away from Clintonion neoliberalism.  President Uncle Joe has moved two steps away.  It is the right direction, just not as quickly as needed.

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  3. Big Pharma is obviously demanding that the GOP go to bat for them in this election cycle and convince voters to allow the obscene price gouging to continue. If Joe succeeds with 10, there will be more. Convincing voters that they should WANT to pay more for a product than any other industrialized nation is an argument and campaign issue we want. 

    Rudy is circling the drain. The civil suit goes to damages and this will clean him out at the moment he needs cash for his lawyers. IMO, Ruby and Shaye will probably be witnesses at the GA criminal trial. (How could they not?) The "fact" of Rudy's conviction will be introduced – for the jury the fact that these two election workers were deliberately targeted to assert fraud that did not exist. It's not yet proven but I will watch with great interest when Willis gets into that stage of the trial. Several people tried to intimidate Ruby and Shaye into signing false confessions to election fraud. Willis has to link them to other co-defendants who are linked to Trump. This isn't just about the phone call.

    A federal judge ruled that Navaro can not offer as a defense that Trump asserted executive privilege to deny Navaro authority to testify. Trump won't testify that he did and there's no evidence that Trump did. Navaro's claim that Trump didn't want him to appear is not enough. So Navaro is circling the drain on a criminal charge. Navaro (I predict) is going to prison for contempt of Congress and so is Steve Bannon (who got four months.)

    Trump and MTG are pushing hard for an immediate impeachment of Joe Biden. McCarthy is proceeding with maybe an impeachment inquiry. It looks like there are not enough votes in the House to impeach. Some House Republicans are aware that the various committees have failed utterly to find evidence of misconduct by JOE Biden. (I'd vote to impeach Hunter Biden but he's not part of the government.) 

    Altogether, I'm optimistic. I think the move to impeach Biden won't even get out of the House and Trump will squeal like a stuck pig. Which makes it clear to those with eyes that the impeachment talk was pure politics with no proof. Trump is going to be in back-to-back-to-back trials almost all the way through 2024. IMO, there's gonna be some damaging convictions. Trump is trying to take the accusations and whip up sympathy but I think even Trump knows that the facts, if they get out before November, will devastate Trump with all but the cultists. And Trump can't win just on the cultists. 

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    • The beauty of the situation is that Trump's non diehard supporters are going to be put in a situation where they'll be forced to decide wether or not to bail on Trump's bullshit. The time is running out to continue with the nonsense and to understand that they are holding a losing hand. They'd be wise to content themselves with the notion it was a glorious fantasy while it lasted but, tranciency is in the nature of all things.  And Donny's time is up!

      Puff The Magic Dragon — Peter, Paul & Mary ~ Live 1965 – YouTube

      • Add in today's sentence of 17 years prison for one of the Proud Boys and a lot of eagerness to participate in mass violence takes another inch or two down the willingness scale.

        The biggest likelihood is that The Donald's rhetoric (and those of his politician allies) will increase 'lone nut' violence.  The next 15 months will be unusual.

  4. The way Ruby and Shaye's lives were nearly destroyed  by Guliani and the others, even though they're bit players, is arguably the emotional heart of the vast Georgia case. If I were making a movie about it, these two would have major roles, even though they're tangential to the main issues the RICO case is about. It will be interesting to see how the public reacts – thank God it will be televised.

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  5. The drug companies know full well they are ripping us off, that's why they finance our news industry? Very little is written or broadcast about the scam, given it's scope, who what why? It's right there with the gun trade, it's an investment. None of the cables carried Biden's speech today except msnbc and they cut away for people standing in water. Joe needs a better communication shop. My only problem with the plan is it doesn't go into full effect until 2026?

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  7. Probably not a TIA; perhaps an absence (or petit mal) seizure. McConnell is trying to hold on until a Republican can safely hold his seat.

    May he fail.

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  9. Big Pharma is a big embarrassing mess in this country.  So much can be written one is overwhelmed by the scope of the problems.  

    The crux of our problem is that the mess is funded by our money, both tax money and drug costs.  Way too much of that money does NOT go toward our health.  In the case of Oxycodone, it did the opposite.  The forces of capitalism fail in providing adequate control.  The current decrease in national life expectancy is strong evidence of the extent of the problem.  

    Kudos to Biden and associates.  A step in a long and much needed task and journey.

     

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  10. When my Eliquis jumped to $485 monthly, my doctor prescribed a generic version of Pradaxa which cost $47 a month and seems to be working well for me, according to my physician and specialists in anticoagulants.

    So far, so good, anyway. I have resigned myself to the fact that in America medical care is and will remain profit over people.

    Strange. 2026 as a compromise with the neonazis, maggots, and unpatriots in Congress, and Orange Urine's attorneys demanding delaying trials until 2026 seems like more than a coincidence. Sends shivers down my spine. Will there be affordable spine shivers pharmaceuticals in 2026?

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