Are New Cancer Meds Worth Their Cost?
Innovative but costly anti-cancer drugs have spurred the development of several value assessments and cost frameworks, all designed to explore one question: Do the benefits of these treatments justify their price? Now, new research published in Health Affairs suggests that these treatments may significantly extend the life expectancy of some cancer patients.
New Data: Illegal Drugs Drive Massachusetts’ Opioid Overdose Epidemic
New data show that street drugs, not prescription opioids, directly caused 85 percent of opioid overdose deaths in Massachusetts during 2013 and 2014.
The PCSK9 Inhibitor Conundrum
Medicine is at a crossroads; cardiology in particular. I saw this fact magnified at the American Society for Preventive Cardiology’s recent town hall on access barriers to PCSK9 inhibitors.
CCTA Panel Explores Making Clinical Trials Conversation Standard of Care
What if discussing clinical trials opportunities were a standard part of patient care? This question spurred discussion among members of a diverse panel at a recent Coalition for Clinical Trials Awareness roundtable event.
Rx Pricing, Patents & Patient Access
A United Nations panel has a controversial idea for improving patient access to necessary medicines: curb intellectual property rights.
IfPA Urges ICER to Improve Value Framework
Along with other advocacy, education and health care organizations, the Institute for Patient Access wrote to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review this week offering 12 suggestions on how to improve its value framework. The letter responded to ICER’s request for feedback as it prepares to update its framework for 2017.
GAfPA “NOR-SWITCH” Paper Explores Impact of Biosimilar Switching Research
Data from a clinical study in Norway may soon explain the effects of switching stable patients from a biologic medicine, infliximab, to its biosimilar counterpart. But, as the Global Alliance for Patient Access argues in a new white paper, policymakers must accurately interpret what the NOR-SWITCH study will – and will not – demonstrate about the safety of switching.
New National Coalition for Infant Health Video Introduces the RSV “Gap Baby”
Most young children encounter what’s known as Respiratory Syncytial Virus, or RSV, before age two. It’s a common seasonal virus with flu-like symptoms. But as a new video from the National Coalition for Infant Health explains, premature infants whose health plans don’t cover preventive RSV treatment may suffer – and unnecessarily so.
New AfPA Video Identifies 3 Traits of a Workable Opioid Abuse Solution
Opioid and heroin abuse is an epidemic that kills 78 Americans every day, explains a new video from the Alliance for Patient Access. But as federal agencies, state lawmakers, professional organizations and inter-agency collaborations lay out different plans for addressing the epidemic, people must ask: Which plans will work? And which will curb abuse without undermining legitimate medical care for patients in pain?
Newborns Affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Triple
A condition that causes newborns of substance-addicted mothers to experience withdrawal symptoms is on the rise. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) tripled between 1999 and 2013 in 23 states. In three states – West Virginia, Maine and Vermont – the condition now affects more than 30 infants per 1,000 births. Policymakers have proposed several solutions to address not only NAS but also opioid and heroin abuse, which are common contributors to the condition.
