New Data Spark Debate on Cost and Value of Breakthrough Cholesterol Meds
A new analysis calls for drastic price reductions for PCSK9 inhibitors, breakthrough lipid-lowering medications. Data published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that the treatments would need to be reduced to two-thirds their current price to meet analysts’ cost-effectiveness thresholds.
GAfPA Asks: What are the Critical International Barriers to Patient Access?
Healthy lives and well-being for all are among the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. The U.N. calls for “access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.”
Hospitals Innovate on Pain Management and Opioid Abuse
Opioid-related deaths have tripled since 1999. Now, innovative hospitals are combatting opioid abuse by rethinking how they help patients manage surgical pain. In its recent webinar, the Collaborative for Effective Prescription Opioid Policies spotlighted several hospitals’ work toward better understanding – and minimizing – opioid abuse.
New Study: Aligning Rx Refill Dates Improves Patient Adherence
New research confirms that patients are more likely to follow their medication regimen if they receive all prescription drugs at the same time each month. Known as “synchronization,” the concept was the focus of a University of Pennsylvania study of Medicare Advantage patients.
AfPA and CancerCare Explore the Cancer Treatment Experience
Cancer patients may feel under-informed about their diagnosis, overwhelmed by out-of-pocket expenses and unable to carry out day-to-day activities – despite being confident about their quality of care.
Health Plan’s Cost Cutting Fuels Non-Medical Switching Worries
Biosimilar medications designed to give patients more options may instead become health plans’ newest tool for limiting patient access.
Governors Take on Abuse and Access in Opioid Compact
State governors are ready to take action on the opioid abuse epidemic. The National Governors Association released “A Compact to Fight Opioid Addiction” on July 13 with the goals of reducing inappropriate opioid prescribing, improving awareness of risks and addiction, and clearing the way for addiction treatment and recovery.
Advocates Urge Congress to Finalize 21st Century Cures
Congress returns in September from a seven-week recess—and ready, many patients and advocates hope, to push the 21st Century Cures Act over the finish line. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) expects the Senate to resume work on the bill, which he says could be “the most important legislation Congress passes this year.” The bill passed the House of Representatives in July 2015 with bipartisan support.
World Hepatitis Day Spotlights Disease Elimination & Access Efforts
July 28 marks World Hepatitis Day, part of the World Health Organization’s effort to eliminate hepatitis B and C by 2030.
New Industry Principles Encourage Informed Prescribing
Access to comprehensive information about a medication can keep physicians informed and yield better health care decisions, argues a new set of principles from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. And having better-informed physicians could be good news for patients.
