Unfortunately, this viewpoint misreports IQVIA Institute numbers to make its case, alleging that PBMs retain 30% of drug spending. Yet the report they cite attributes that 30% to statutory discounts to Federal programs and co-pay coupons, not PBMs.

Research has repeatedly found there is no correlation between high drug prices and investment by drug companies in R&D.

Lots of speculation about which drugs Medicare will negotiate in the first few years, so Inmaculada (Inma) Hernández and I dug in to find which drugs will qualify. Here's the list!

Eli Lilly's Trulicity and Merck's Keytruda could face Medicare drug price negotiations by 2028, according to a new study from Sean Dickson & Inmaculada (Inma) Hernández. From 2026 to 2028, Medicare beneficiaries could see new prices for 38 Part D and Part B drugs. news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and…

Novo dropping its insulin prices, but it's not beneficence - they're protecting their bottom line as Medicaid is about to severely penalize their price increases. 🧵 explaining below. wsj.com/articles/insul…

Always fun when your predictions come true. "Dickson predicted that the other two major insulin makers, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk, also will lower the price of some of their insulin products because they’re facing the same scenario as Lilly." statnews.com/2023/03/06/eli… via STAT

Three's company: $SNY follows lead of $LLY and $Novo, slashes insulin price by 78% and caps out-of-pocket costs - endpts.com/threes-company…

It's official.

If there weren't enough prescription drug news for you today, you can check out this Health Affairs podcast where I discuss recent work with Inmaculada (Inma) Hernández looking at the effect of new therapeutic competition on net prices of incumbents. healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hp2…

New work: Ophthalmologists accepting manufacturer payments chose more expensive therapies. Had those providers prescribed akin to their colleagues who didn't accept payments, Medicare spending would have been $643M lower from 2013-19. jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-…

According to this cross-sectional study, manufacturer payments to ophthalmologists are associated with more expensive therapeutic choice, increasing Medicare spending. ja.ma/3Z6nYgh Sean Dickson

Today!

Great coverage of our study - docs who accepted industry payments significantly more likely to prescribe more expensive drugs. West Health statnews.com/pharmalot/2023…

Gilead to pay $40 million to settle claims it delayed newer HIV treatment to boost profits statnews.com/pharmalot/2024… via STAT