News & Highlights

POLITICO: Rubio blasts drug company ‘profiteering’

Oct 16, 2015

Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio blasted pharmaceutical company “profiteering” on high-cost prescription drugs during a campaign stop this week – a sign that drug prices are becoming a lightning rod for both parties in the election. Read More

Group targeting drug costs enters early primary states

Oct 2, 2015

POLITICO Group targeting drug costs enters early primary states By Brett Read More

Sanders: Drug costs are out of control

Oct 1, 2015

Across the country, Americans are finding the prices of the prescription drugs Read More

Drug firms need to explain the prices

Sep 29, 2015

Drug makers do not really want to explain how medicines are priced and, as a result, they have adopted an air of secrecy in which one cowboy can create havoc for an entire industry. Read More

NYT: A Huge Overnight Increase in a Drug’s Price Raises Protests

Sep 20, 2015

Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection. Read More

The Price for Lowering Cholesterol

Sep 9, 2015

The hepatitis C drugs, which cured a vast majority of patients in clinical trials, are essentially a one-time cost. The cholesterol drugs, by contrast, will be taken for a lifetime. At these rates, the lifetime costs could be staggering. Read More

New Cholesterol Drugs Are Vastly Overpriced, Analysis Says

Sep 9, 2015

Two powerful new drugs that can sharply lower cholesterol are vastly overpriced based on the value they provide, according to a new analysis by an independent organization that evaluates pharmaceutical costs. Read More

New effective medicines are of no use if they are unaffordable

Sep 9, 2015

The pharmaceutical industry have, in recent years, focused on development of so-called specialty drugs and have priced them aggressively. These prices, such as the US$1,000 per pill price for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir, are alarming for patients, employers, insurers, and governments. Read More

Insurers begin to review coverage of costly cholesterol drugs

Aug 28, 2015

“With several game-changing medications in the pipeline, we need to address the underlying issue of how these prices are set from the start before they hit the market,” John Rother, leader of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing, said in a statement. Read More

Prescription Drug Pricing: Give the People What They Want

Aug 25, 2015

Our effort—the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Prices—has been sounding the alarm for more than a year that pharmaceutical companies must come to the table with meaningful solutions to the challenge of rising drug costs. Otherwise, companies risk the rising tide of consumer anger resulting in solutions that are not constructive for anyone. Read More

High Cost Drugs Threaten the Sustainability of Medicare

Jul 30, 2015

This is an important time to think about the future of programs and policies that support us as we age. Medicare marks its 50th Anniversary at the end of July. I’ve been around to witness much of the creation and evolution of health policy. After a 40-year career in Aging and Health Policy, first in the Senate, then at AARP, and now as head of the National Coalition on Health Care, I have a few observations about where things stand. Read More

The Hill: FDA approves cholesterol drug with $15,000 yearly price tag

Jul 24, 2015

“Breakthrough treatments such as Praluent hold tremendous medical promise for certain patients, but its price tag makes us question how long the health system can sustain these costs for patients managing chronic conditions over several years," John Rother, president of the National Coalition on Health Care, said in a statement. Read More