[ad_1]
Drug maker Merck announced Thursday it would lower prices for several drugs by 10% or more, but its withdrawal would affect minor products and not reduce the cost of its top selling oncology and diabetic products .
move follows recent announcements by Pfizer and Novartis that they will freeze price increases for the rest of the year, as the industry faces sustained criticism from President Trump, lawmakers and the government. public on rising prescription costs.
Cautiously, the industry is changing its strategy: it has not lowered the price of blockbusters like the Keytruda cancer treatment or the Januvia diabetes drug. Instead, he announced that he would reduce by 60% the current price of Zepatier, a hepatitis C drug whose recent sales have dropped so low that after paying rebates after coup to insurers, the company did not record any sales in the United States. the product in the first quarter of this year
The other six products that Merck said to disregard were drugs that had lost their patent protection and are available from other manufacturers as generic low cost. Merck said it was lowering prices in order to reduce reimbursable expenses for patients. He also stated that he would not increase the average net price – the amount after deducting discounts – of his products above the inflation rate for the remainder of the year.
Large pharmaceutical companies have become the target of increasing price pressures, and the Department of Health and Human Services, now headed by Alex M. Azar II, a former pharmaceutical executive, has weighed options to make some changes.
The president has repeatedly criticized pharmaceutical companies. Just last week, Mr. Trump chose Pfizer in a tweet to raise prices on dozens of drugs, the company has since postponed. After freezing their prices, Novartis and Pfizer have since been rewarded with congratulatory presidential tweets
. Trump announced in May that major pharmaceutical companies would issue "massive voluntary price cuts" within two weeks, but that did not happen.
Merck's announcement Thursday seemed to be the first time in recent memory Adam J. Fein, chief executive of the Drug Channels Institute, said that even though Merck's move was weak, he was reducing the number of Paid intermediaries, such as wholesalers and pharmacy managers. "The economy of every player changes when the list price goes down," he said. If others do the same, he says, "we are moving into uncharted waters."
Much of the outrage caused by the high price of drugs was caused by the "lightening of the water." difference between the current price of a drug established by the manufacturer and the net price, which is the amount – after discounts – that pay insurers and large employers.
Consumers are often exposed to the higher listing price because they do not have insurance or because their insurance requires them to pay before their deductible is met. In the statement, Merck said that she chose the drugs "based on a range of factors, including the gap between the list price and the actual discounted (net) prices paid on the market, contractual obligations under existing agreements with payers access to treatment. "
Zepatier has struggled in recent years in the face of competition from other treatments for hepatitis C, and Fewer patients seeking treatment for the disease Zepatier achieved an overall turnover of $ 131 million in the first quarter of 2018, a 65% decrease from the first quarter of 2017. After paying the rebates to insurers, the company recorded $ 0 of Zepatier sales in the first quarter.In contrast, Keytruda's cancer treatment had sales in the US of $ 838 million in the first quarter of 2018. Januvia Diabetes Drug a rap $ 465 million in the same period.
include branded versions of products that have long lost patent protection and are readily available from competitors at greatly reduced prices. They include Prinivil, the brand name of lisinopril, a medicine for hypertension, which lost patent protection in 2002.
Source link
