Hello, readers. This is Sy.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump issued a bold declaration on drug prices while signing Congress’ recently-passed “Right to Try” law for experimental medicines: “I think we’re going to have some of the big drug companies in in two weeks, and they’re going to announce because of what we did, they’re going to announce voluntary massive drops in prices. So that’s great. That’s going to be a fantastic thing.”
Trump’s comments weren’t just related to the bill he’d just signed (a notable piece of health care legislation in and of itself that’s divided patient advocacy groups and drug companies, but been championed by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence—you can read more on that debate here). The president was also referring to recently-announced plans by the administration and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar meant to curb high prescription drug costs. But it’s unclear whether any major biopharmaceutical companies are actually poised for self-imposed price cuts in the near future, or on what Trump is basing his claims.
The so-called “American Patients First” blueprint released earlier this month poses a number of ideas for tackling the skyrocketing cost of medicines. Some of the proposals take aim at the medical supply chain, including ones that would change the way Medicare pays for certain treatments; others are far more aspirational and, on both a political and policy level, controversial (such as forcing foreign governments to pay more for U.S.-made drugs).
Largely, however, health care companies—and drug makers specifically—don’t seem particularly perturbed by the tough talk. The administration’s blueprint is still just that, and it contains far more questions about drug pricing policy than it does answers. Literally. And while some pharmaceutical firms have been testing out new payment models including pay-for-performance deals with health insurers in recent years, wherein they only get paid if their drugs actually work, list price increases for therapies that outpace inflation are still the norm and companies don’t appear to be bracing for radical disruption.
Food and Drug Commissioner (FDA) Scott Gottlieb and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma have joined Trump and Azar in targeting drug prices, with Gottlieb taking the step of naming-and-shaming companies that have been accused of preventing the entry of cheap, generic competitors to the market. Still, biotech stock indices rose between 1.4% and 1.8% in Wednesday trading, and the prospect of voluntary price cuts (rather than, say, a lower-than-usual price increase) for drugs may prove unlikely barring more aggressive regulatory steps.
Read on for the day’s news.
| Sy Mukherjee | |
| @the_sy_guy | |
| sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com |
DIGITAL HEALTH
AI challenges doctors in skin cancer diagnosis. A new study published in the journal Annals of Oncology is the latest to put flesh-and-blood physicians against their ever-burgeoning AI rivals. The machines proved better than the humans at at telling the difference between cancerous moles and benign ones. It's far from the first study to suggest computers can help doctors read diagnostic images—a field where artificial intelligence may prove especially useful in the coming years. (Fortune)
INDICATIONS
PhRMA issues cancer drug development report. The drug industry's main lobbying group, PhRMA, is out with its latest "Medicines in Development" report outlining the state of cancer treatment R&D. The top-line takeaway should come as no surprise to Brainstorm Health Daily leaders—immune, cell, and gene therapies make up the current research zeitgeist. "Even in just the last year, 47 new immuno-oncology treatments have been added to the development pipeline," write the authors.
Roseanne Barr faces the heat from... Sanofi? It's not every day you see a major pharmaceutical company subtweet a controversial comedian following the abrupt cancelation of her hit show over a racist tweet. But, well, that's what Sanofi did on Wednesday after Roseanne Barr blamed "Ambien tweeting" for comments the actress made disparaging a former Obama administration official. Sanofi's response, which didn't specifically name Barr: "People of all races, religions and nationalities work at Sanofi every day to improve the lives of people around the world. While all pharmaceutical treatments have side effects, racism is not a known side effect of any Sanofi medication." (Fortune)
THE BIG PICTURE
Chinese healthy life expectancy surpasses the U.S. For the first time, China has overtaken the U.S. for healthy life expectancy at birth, according the a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). While American babies still have an overall longer life expectancy (78.5 years versus 76.4 years), Chinese newborns were expected to live 68.7 years of healthy life as opposed to 68.5 years for American babies. (Reuters)
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| Produced by Sy Mukherjee | |
| @the_sy_guy | |
| sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com |
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