Good Day BIO: Drug prices drop or rise only slightly, says MedPAC

With the Senate considering drug price controls, Congress’s MedPAC finds prices fell for many drugs that would be subject to price setting. Plus, BIO IMPACT returns to an in-person event in September—here’s why it’s so timely. (750 words, 3 minutes, 45 seconds)

Drug prices drop or rise only slightly, says congressional commission

Prices fell for 11 of the 20 drugs for which Medicare Part B spent the most—the type of drugs that would be subject to price controls under the Senate’s proposal—says a report released yesterday by Congress’s own Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

The key finding: Between the first quarters of 2021 and 2022, more drugs in the top 20 (11) experienced a price decrease than a price increase (9).

Even price increases were small: “Between the first quarters of 2021 and 2022,” the report says, “none of the nine products with price increases experienced increases greater than inflation.”

Why we’re talking about it: Under the Senate’s latest drug pricing proposal, the government could set the prices of drugs on which Medicare spends the most, starting with the top 10 drugs in 2026 and increasing to the top 20 drugs in 2029.

Some of the prices that fell were “among biologics facing biosimilar competition,”MedPAC reports—but the Senate’s plan discourages biosimilars by eliminating incentives to invest the $100-$200 million needed to bring one to market, says a fact sheet released yesterday by Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC).

Drug development is already risky, says the fact sheet:

• On average, it takes 10.5 years from research to approval for investors to realize a return.
• Manufactures pay $474 million in pre-clinical expenses per approval.
• Nine of ten drugs going to clinical trial ultimately fail.
• Drug development costs average nearly $1.4 billion.

The bottom line: “Government price-setting would curb investments in drug development—leading to fewer novel medicines reaching patients,” the fact sheet says.

BIO agrees: “The legislation…would dismantle our innovation engine and our global competitiveness, leaving Americans dependent on overseas innovators,” said BIO President and CEO Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath.

More Health Care News:

AP: CDC endorses more traditional Novavax COVID vaccine following FDA approval
“U.S. adults who haven’t gotten any COVID-19 shots yet should consider a new option from Novavax—a more traditional kind of vaccine, health officials said Tuesday. Regulators authorized the nation’s first so-called protein vaccine against COVID-19 last week, but the final hurdle was a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The Boston Globe (Opinion): Antibiotic-resistant infections could dwarf the COVID-19 pandemic
“These life-saving drugs are being taken for granted and many bacteria have become resistant to them. Given enough time, bacterial evolution will render every antibiotic ineffective. We need to act,” write Boston University’s Kevin Outterson and AMR Action Fund’s Henry Skinner.

BIO IMPACT returns to in-person to tackle big challenges

With food, energy, and climate increasingly conjoined challenges, we need to scale up climate resilience across all systems—and biotechnology can help.

In the news: “Scaling up climate resilience across food systems” is just one thing we need to do to address hunger and malnutrition, UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid told a special meeting on the global food crisis Monday.

But it’s not just food security—we also need to address energy security, manufacturing and supply chain challenges, and of course, the increasingly unbearable heat we’re all experiencing.

The BIO IMPACT Ag & Environment Conference will address these challenges—returning to an in-person event from September 19-21 in Omaha, Nebraska, a hub of America’s bioeconomy.   

BIO IMPACT will enable collaboration—with the unique BIO One-on-One Partnering™ system, as well as plenaries and educational sessions, company presentations and the Start-Up Stadium, and the exhibit hall.

Areas of interest covered include:

• Crop production and enhancement
• Food and feed inputs, nutrition and wellness
• Environmental health
• Renewable chemicals and biobased products
• Renewable fuels and energy
• Animal health, welfare and production

Click here to learn more and register.

P.S. It’s not too late to nominate a game-changer in the bioeconomy—nominations are still open for BIO’s prestigious George Washington Carver Award and Rosalind Franklin Award recognizing bioeconomy leaders. Learn more!

President Biden’s Wednesday: Discussing the climate crisis in a public address at the Brayton Point power station—which is transitioning from a former coal-powered plant to one using wind power—in Somerset, Mass. He will discuss executive actions on climate, but stop short of declaring a climate emergency, Reuters reports.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: A busy day of hearings relevant to food and science. The Senate Appropriations Agriculture-FDA Subcommittee will hold a hearing on food safety and the FDA with testimony from FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf. The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Arati Prabhakar’s nomination to be the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will look at global food security and the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a public briefing with UN World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley.