The largest pharmaceutical companies donated almost twice as much money to patient advocacy groups in 2015 as they spent on federal lobbying, according to a Kaiser Health News investigation.
The big picture: Critics say drug company money could skew the views and priorities of patient groups, many of which have been silent on rising drug prices.
AbbVie said Thursday it reached a deal with biopharmaceutical firm Samsung Bioepis that prevents Samsung from selling its cheaper copy of AbbVie's blockbuster drug Humira in the U.S. until June 30, 2023. This settlement comes roughly six months after AbbVie inked a similar deal with Amgen.
Why it matters: These settlements guarantee AbbVie will have five more years of monopoly pricing in the U.S. for the top-selling drug in the world, even though biosimilar versions of Humira will be available in Europe this October. Humira has garnered huge profits, spurred in part by routine price hikes from AbbVie.
The bottom line: Overall death rates dropped between 1980 and 2014 for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases. But from 2000 to 2014, deaths from diarrhea-related diseases increased in the U.S. That may be largely because of bacteria that has become resistant to antibiotics.
Some of the Affordable Care Act's biggest problems — rising premiums and lackluster competition among insurers — are most severe in rural areas. And those areas tend to be conservative, but there's little serious effort among Republicans to address these problems.
Why it matters: Rising premiums put health care further out of reach for middle-class people in these areas. At some point, they're going to want to hear workable solutions from their elected representatives.
FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Wednesday that internet service providers and social media sites such as Google, Facebook and Twitter, should play an active role in clamping-down illegal online sales of opioid drugs.
The details: Gottlieb said the availability and online purchase options of the illicit drugs, including products laced with lethal doses of the painkiller fentanyl, "fuels the opioid crisis." The FDA commissioner plans to hold a summit "soon" with leaders of internet companies and other stakeholders. Spokespeople for Facebook and Twitter said both platforms have policies that prohibit buying and selling of illicit and pharmaceutical drugs. Other companies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
