About pharma
The first three articles are related.
Lobbying Expenditures and Campaign Contributions by the Pharmaceutical and Health Product Industry in the United States, 1999-2018: “From 1999 to 2018, the pharmaceutical and health product industry recorded $4.7 billion—an average of $233 million per year—in lobbying expenditures at the federal level, more than any other industry. Of the spending, the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America accounted for $422 million (9.0%), and the other 19 top companies and organizations in this industry accounted for $2.2 billion (46.8%). The industry spent $414 million on contributions to candidates in presidential and congressional elections, national party committees, and outside spending groups.” Keep these numbers in mind as Congress addresses the issue of high pharma prices.
Estimated Research and Development Investment Needed to Bring a New Medicine to Market, 2009-2018: Pharma companies claim they need to charge such high prices in order to recoup not only their investment in a particular drug but allocated expenses from failed projects. Claims for this total cost per medication run as high as $1.5 billion. According to this study, “which included 63 of 355 new therapeutic drugs and biologic agents approved by the US Food and Drug Administration between 2009 and 2018, the estimated median capitalized research and development cost per product was $985 million, counting expenditures on failed trials.”
Profitability of Large Pharmaceutical Companies Compared With Other Large Public Companies: “In this cross-sectional study that compared the profits of 35 large pharmaceutical companies with those of 357 large, nonpharmaceutical companies from 2000 to 2018, the median net income (earnings) expressed as a fraction of revenue was significantly greater for pharmaceutical companies compared with nonpharmaceutical companies (13.8% vs 7.7%).
Large pharmaceutical companies were more profitable than other large companies, although the difference was smaller when controlling for differences in company size, research and development expense, and time trends.” Merck’s CEO wrote an editorial in response to these findings as well as those of the previous two articles.
India limits drug exports, raises concern of coronavirus-linked drug shortage: “The Indian government sent out a notice March 3 that it is halting exports of 13 active pharmaceutical ingredients and 13 finished drugs due to concern about COVID-19 causing shortages…India is the source of about 20 percent of the world's generic drugs, but it relies on China for about 66 percent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients…
The affected drugs include an over-the-counter painkiller, paracetamol; a common antibiotic, metronidazole; and various versions of vitamin B.”
Top 10 pharma companies by revenue: “The worldwide pharmaceutical market was worth about $1.3 trillion in 2019…
The 10 largest pharmaceutical companies accounted for about a third of that, worth a collective $392.5 billion in revenue.”
Amazon rolls out Alexa feature that lets users ask about prescription drugs: “Amazon is rolling out detailed medication information as a new feature of its Alexa device in partnership with First Databank. The San Francisco-based company is a major provider of drug and medical device databases.” Should we be concerned about the privacy of these requests for information?
Existing drugs may offer a first-line treatment for coronavirus outbreak:”…a coalition of European researchers says that already approved drugs might hold the key to treating the new virus.” They tested broad spectrum anti-virals for the report and found 31 that may be effective. The research was reported here.
In A 1st, Scientists Use Revolutionary Gene-Editing Tool To Edit Inside A Patient: “For the first time, scientists have used the gene-editing technique CRISPR to try to edit a gene while the DNA is still inside a person's body.
The groundbreaking procedure involved injecting the microscopic gene-editing tool into the eye of a patient blinded by a rare genetic disorder, in hopes of enabling the volunteer to see. They hope to know within weeks whether the approach is working and, if so, to know within two or three months how much vision will be restored.”
Previous use of this technology involved taking cells from a patient, genetically modifying them , and then returning the cells to the patient.
About health insurance
New York mandates insurers waive cost sharing for coronavirus testing: The headline is self-explanatory.
U.S. Weighs Paying Hospitals for Treating Uninsured Coronavirus Patients: “The Trump administration is considering using a national disaster program to pay hospitals and doctors for their care of uninsured people infected with the new corona virus as concerns rise over costs of treating some of the 27 million Americans without health coverage, a person familiar with the conversations said.
In natural disasters such as hurricanes, hospitals and medical facilities can be reimbursed under a federal program that pays them about 110% of Medicare rates for treating patients such as those evacuated from hard-hit areas.” The immigration status of those who would be covered is not mentioned.