Coulda, woulda, shoulda. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary committee had a hearing on prescription drug prices. It became clear that comparisons to international prices remain a focus but so is patent abuse. I am not sure that’s a fair characterization. What companies are doing is legal and I’m not sure they’d be doing their fiduciary duty to shareholders if they didn’t take the actions they did.

Personally (and not because anyone has asked), I would have skipped the whole Inflation Reduction Act thing and done patent reform. 15 years and you’re done. I’m sure that is a horrible idea for lots of reasons but so much easier than the house of cards we have.

For what it is worth, there are calls on Senator Schumer to bring patient reform laws to the floor.

Swerve. A DC circuit court called the decision to allow unlimited 340B contract pharmacies a swerve by agency overseeing the program (Health Resources and Services Administration). It was a win of sorts for  manufacturers because it said they can limit their sales to covered entities. But no one thinks this story is over. Just last week Maryland’s governor signed a bill prohibiting restrictions on 340B entities.

Click bait. Air340B put out an updated map tool on 340B hospitals. Handy dandy fun with data.

I know that you know but now we know that they know. An official from the Food and Drug Administration, while speaking at a conference, acknowledged the structure of the drug negotiation program could impact decisions about drug development, particularly as it relates to orphan drugs.

Sure, why not. Maryland’s prescription drug affordability board is moving ahead with cost review studies for Skyrizi, Trulicity, Ozempic, Jardiance, Farxiga, and Dupixent (at a later date.) With limited resources, these are the drugs they focused on? Ozempic and Trulicity are in shortage. Farxiga and Jardiance probably are highly negotiated. I’m not sure what the ROI here is.

Call me maybe (skeptical). Optum announced a new pricing model for plan sponsors – Cost Made Clear. If you’re making that much on generics (which are 90% of utilization), sure, be more transparent. Sounds like a Mark Cuban-effect.