Your new post is loading...
A closely watched effort in California to pass a bill that would require drug makers to explain their price hikes has been scuttled. The decision came after amendments were made during an assembly committee hearing last Friday that sources told us “effectively gutted” the legislation.
The bill would have required drug makers to report any move to increase the list price of a medicine by more than 10 percent during any 12-month period. And drug makers would also have had to justify price hikes for medicines with a list price of more than $10,000 within 30 days of making such a move.
“Unfortunately, recent amendments have made it more difficult for us to accomplish our fundamental goal,” said California state Senator Ed Hernandez, who pulled the bill after introducing the legislation and succeeding in getting the state Senate to approve the measure two months ago.
The legislation was one of more than a dozen such efforts by state legislatures around the country in response to rising medicine costs. Beyond sensational examples of drug prices rising by sky-high amounts, average prices for prescription drugs increased 10 percent last year, according to Truveris, a health care data company. And prices for brand-name medicines, specifically, jumped nearly 15 percent.
Related stories:
- J&J is Largest Contributor to #Pharma Lobbying Group Opposing Drug Pricing Relief Ballot Measure; http://sco.lt/8itVIH
- Big #Pharma Out Spends AIDs Advocates 10-to-1 to Defeat California Drug Price Ballot; http://sco.lt/8gcLGz
Via Pharma Guy
Pharma spokesmen resist [these calls] for transparency, claiming that the measure would dampen incentives for companies to develop lifesaving therapies. Their objection also sings the PhRMA's old tune that while drugs constitute only 10 to 12 percent of health care costs, they save the system money by keeping patients out of the hospital.