A federal appeals court Friday delivered a blow to drug maker Allergan, saying in a ruling the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe cannot assert its "tribal sovereign immunity" to cast aside patent challenges to one of Allergan's drugs. Allergan declined to comment.
Flashback: Last year, Allergan transferred the patents of its blockbuster dry eye drug, Restasis, to Saint Regis and agreed to pay the Native American tribe money. In return, the tribe would attempt to kill patent challenges from generic drug companies that wanted to make cheaper versions of the drug.
Merck said Thursday it is lowering the prices of a handful of unnamed drugs by 10% and dropping the price of hepatitis C medication Zepatier by 60%. The pharmaceutical company also said it would cap the "average net price" of some drugs at inflation.
Between the lines: Merck's moves come right after Novartis and Pfizer made separate pricing decisions. However, while lower list prices will help patients, Merck can still raise prices whenever it wants. And the 60% price cut to Zepatier won't matter a lot because Zepatier has lost considerable market share to other hepatitis C drugs.
Californians will pay an average of 8.7% more next year for health insurance sold through the Affordable Care Act, and many consumers who are willing to switch plans won't see any premium increase at all, the state said today.
Why it matters: California's rates continue a trend of smaller-than-expected premium hikes. The fact that the ACA's individual mandate won't be enforced next year drove up premiums by an average of 3.5%, despite earlier fears of double-digit hikes and dwindling competition.
The Trump administration's next steps on drug pricing could come quickly: The White House budget office is reviewing a new proposal to change the way pharmacy benefit managers — the middlemen between drugmakers and the pharmacy counter — get paid.
What I'm hearing: Even by the standards of the drug supply chain, this is likely to be an extremely complex and in-the-weeds rule. It's not entirely clear how much of PBMs' payment structure the administration can change on its own, without any help from Congress.
Nearly half of Americans find it harder to afford basic necessities than one year ago, and 49% say health care is their top cost concern this year, according to new polling from Navigator Research.
Why it matters: People might feel better about the economy under President Trump, but health care remains a significant midterm issue across the country. That's not good for Republicans — those polled said they trust Democrats by a 16-point margin to fix the rising costs.
