If you’re one of those people who is working from the couch today, I salute you. It really is the most fun day of sports. I was mocked for the way I picked my bracket (where wouId I rather live?) but I had a clean bracket until Kentucky. I blame my newfound like of bourbon.…
Happy International Women’s Day. Best display of International Women’s day I’ve ever seen was in Russia when I was studying abroad. They took it SERIOUSLY. Not just a LinkedIn Holiday. Cat-astrophe? No, just a political speech – not reality. President Biden talked about increasing the number of negotiated drugs up to 50 a year. Not…
It took my until 5 pm on Thursday to figure out why there was a frog on the Microsoft tool bar. Leap year. Frog. Leap. Sigh. I prefer not. Congress seems to have hit the pause button (at least temporarily) on pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform. And that sort of felt okay because, realistically, things…
Gross to Net, a Saga. As soon as I saw Adam Fein’s Drug Channels article on Gross to Net in Part D redesign, I knew it would throw off my day. It was just catchy enough to cause a buzz and get the attention of Heads of Market Access at pharmaceutical companies and start the…
On March 7 the District Court of New Jersey will hear oral arguments from 4 pharmaceutical companies against the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in one day – BMS, Janssen, Novartis and Novo Nordisk. When the arguments line up and time is ticking, get it done. All four companies have drugs that are part of the…
This afternoon I’m giving a talk to a group of patient advocates on the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D). As I prepared, I was struck by the fact that this is one of the few times that I feel that I’m (mostly) giving out good policy news. Are there downsides to the Medicare Part…
It is a dumb bucket list thing but one day I will go experience the Groundhog Day festivities. Dream big, I know. Cell and Gene Update. This week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) released the Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access model which will initially focus on sickle cell disease. It is…
A thoughtful piece on price hikes. Price hikes are the routine story of January. Look price hikes! But because net price hides behind discounts and rebates, the full story is seldom in media. Here is a story that is (finally) a little more balanced on price hikes (and decreases). It even talks about the new…
Aye-n’t going to happen. Last week I covered how Florida had their importation plan approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It all seems so unlikely to happen or, if it does, it has a lot to go through before it happens. And already the Canadians are saying no thank you. International Math. The Commonwealth…
Give me time off and I’m likely to find myself in over my head with a project of my own making. #cantstopwontstop. Like deciding to bake 120 giant cookies and then deciding that I didn’t like the look of half of them and starting over. Health policy took a backseat to cookies and scones for…