Medicare Price Negotiations

[pca2004]

No PCa drugs yet, but some might be happy with the list. My wife is on Xarelto.

nbcnews.com/health/health-c...

The drugs selected to undergo negotiations are:

Eliquis, a blood thinner

Xarelto, a blood thinner

Januvia, a diabetes drug

Jardiance, a diabetes drug

Enbrel, a rheumatoid arthritis drug

Imbruvica, a drug for blood cancers

Farxiga, a drug for diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease

Entresto, a heart failure drug

Stelara, a drug for psoriasis and Crohn's disease

Fiasp and NovoLog, for diabetes

Together, the 10 drugs selected accounted for $50.5 billion, or 20%, of Medicare Part D spending from June 1, 2022, to May 31, according to the CMS.

-Patrick

[MateoBeach]

Interesting that most of these are very heavily marketed direct to consumers at great expense.

[cujoe in reply to MateoBeach]

Two comments, Pablo:

1. The US is one of only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer drug advertising. (The other is New Zealand?) It was only allowed by the FDA starting in 1997.

2. Most drug companies now spend more on advertising than they do on R&D.

For example . . .

Harvard Health Ad Watch: How direct-to-consumer ads hook us, by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, March 3, 2022.

health.harvard.edu/blog/har...

New Study: In the Midst of COVID-19 Crisis, 7 out of 10 Big Pharma Companies Spent More on Sales and Marketing than R&D, Academy of Health Information Professionals, published Oct 27, 2021.

ahip.org/news/articles/new-...

Take 2 aspirin and call me in October. Stay S&W until,

Ciao - Mad Dog

[PCaWarrior]

I have no horse in this race. This is getting us closer to socialism. Fixed prices and profits. Subsidies paid for by everyone to help those who need support.

Interesting that diabetes meds are so prominent. Prevention (exercise and diet) were abandoned by most of us long ago. Pills are preferrable.

Again, no opinion, no axe, no horse. Only observations.

[maley2711 in reply to PCaWarrior]

opposed to this?

[PCaWarrior in reply to maley2711]

"Again, no opinion, no axe, no horse. Only observations."

I do not have any opinion on socialism vs. anarchy or big vs. small government.

I do find it intriguing that some of the small government proponents do not hesitate to take whatever they can from the government and sometimes even encourage taxpayer funding for their particular interests. Cognitive dissonance? I will let others hash that out if they desire. Personally, I am 100% removed from this.