A lack of oversight and regulation of PBMs has allowed them to act under the radar. They have made the drug distribution channel exceedingly opaque and have directly caused drug prices to rise.Â
Pharmaceuticals
Posted inHealth, Health Care, State House News Service
Healey gives life science firms $24.4m in tax breaks
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. MAURA HEALEY and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center announced $24.4 million in tax incentive awards Tuesday that they expect will help 43 life sciences companies […]
Posted inEconomy
Boncore resigns abruptly at MassBIO
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Former state senator Joe Boncore is stepping down as CEO of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council by the end of the year and his second-in-command, Kendalle Burlin […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. needs to respond to insulin cost crunch
COSIMA MOSHER was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in January 2019 at the age of 11. After two days in the hospital, she realized her life would never be the […]
Posted inGambling
Budget notes: Beacon Hill assuming Encore will open on time
THE MASSACHUSETTS GAMING Commission is currently meeting in private, trying to decide whether Wynn Resorts should be allowed to retain its casino license and open on time in June. But […]
Posted inOpinion
State shouldn’t define pharmaceutical ‘value’
THERE’S A REASON that Americans get access to new cancer medicines two years earlier, on average, than patients in Europe: prices in the United States respond to medical needs and […]
Posted inOpinion
Cost of drugs in the US is an outrage
THE HIGH COST OF PHARMACEUTICALS in the United States is an embarrassment. Americans don’t consume more prescription medications than their counterparts in other developed countries but, on a per capita […]
Posted inOpinion
Drug costs at pharmacies lack transparency
AS A PRACTICING PHYSICIAN, nearly every time I write a prescription, I have to ask myself: “Will this patient be able to afford this at the beginning of the calendar […]
Posted inOpinion
Cost barriers rise for patients
THERE SEEMS TO be a new story each day about how patients across the country are being treated unfairly by their health insurance company. Chances are, you or someone you […]
Posted inOpinion
Taxpayers clean up Big Pharma’s mess
LAST YEAR, the United States saw a 13 percent increase in drug overdose deaths, from an estimated 60,147 lives lost in 2016, to an estimated 67,944 in 2017. For perspective, […]
Posted inHealth Care
Big Pharma hides costs with bait and switch
THE ADS FOR high-end prescription drugs seem ubiquitous. Invokana, Xarelto, Abilify, and Humira are just a few names familiar to anyone with a television. The drugs are some of the […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Drug deja vu
It’s not easy being a health insurer these days, particularly when pharmaceutical companies come along with wonder drugs that cost a fortune. Insurers are all about working the odds. They […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
Senate President pushes drug bulk purchasing
CONCERNED ABOUT THE RISING COST of pharmaceuticals, Senate President Stanley Rosenberg is pushing a budget proposal that would direct the state to use bulk purchasing to negotiate lower prices with […]