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| Presented By PhRMA |
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| Axios Vitals |
| By Tina Reed · Jan 30, 2023 |
| Welcome back to the work week, Vitals readers. Today's newsletter is 960 words or a 3½-minute read. Situational awareness: Amgen is set to launch the first Humira biosimilar tomorrow. - It brings an end to AbbVie's monopoly on the world's biggest selling drug, but it's unclear how many patients will ultimately switch to the knock-off immunology treatment, the New York Times reports.
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| 1 big thing: Drug companies brace for chairman Bernie |
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| Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks to members of the press outside the White House on Jan. 25. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images |
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| Sen. Bernie Sanders has long made no secret he thinks drug companies and health insurers are ripping off Americans. But now he's chairman of the Senate health committee, Axios' Peter Sullivan writes. Why it matters: Sanders has signaled an early focus of the committee's work will be drug prices, and manufacturers are bracing. What they're saying: Sanders told Axios in a brief hallway interview last week he's planning drug price hearings in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. - Asked if that will include calling drug company executives to testify, Sanders said: "We're working on a strategy right now that will be very aggressive."
- Sanders has already set the tone for his chairmanship with a Fox News op-ed saying "greedy pharma rips off Americans."
- Sanders allies say it is little secret that he wants to press pharmaceutical executives. "I think very near the first order of business for Bernie Sanders at HELP is calling these corporations to account," said Alex Lawson, executive director of the progressive group Social Security Works.
- Lawson said he expects Sanders to send letters to drug companies with questions before calling hearings.
- "It doesn't take reading tea leaves to think that Sanders will want to do that," Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on HELP, said of drug company hearings. "If he calls them in, I have questions," he added.
Between the lines: Sanders has basically no ability to get his most sweeping ideas signed into law right now. But he will have a bully pulpit. - Industry officials say they're seeing companies prepare by intensifying their proactive education and advocacy efforts. They are also seeking to shift attention to other players in the drug supply chain, starting with pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, who negotiate drug prices on behalf of health plans — as well as health insurers themselves.
The bottom line: Sanders is getting ready for a fight. - "However scared they are, they're not scared enough," said Alex Lawson, executive director of the progressive group Social Security Works about the health care industry. "Because that's the energy that Bernie Sanders, from my opinion from speaking with HELP, is bringing to this."
A version of this story was published first on Axios Pro. Get news like this by subscribing. Use code POLICY100 which gives you $100 off. |
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| 2. Pathogen research scrutiny rises |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| Stricter rules around risky research on viruses and other pathogens could be coming after a U.S. scientific advisory committee met on Friday to discuss oversight of such studies. Why it matters: The concerns stem from work more than a decade ago on so-called gain-of-function research that engineered flu viruses to become more transmissible, Nature reported. - After the start of the COVID pandemic, the issue took on new urgency when an unproven theory surfaced that SARS-CoV-2 originated in and accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China.
- It's likely to be revived during Republican-led investigations in the House on the origins of the pandemic and the government's oversight of research.
Driving the news: On Friday, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity unanimously approved draft recommendations to push for broader oversight of research on pathogens. - The recommendations also call for stopping exemptions for research related to vaccine development and surveillance of emerging viruses, the New York Times reported.
Catch up quick: The meeting came just days after the Government Accountability Office faulted the Department of Health and Human Services' framework for monitoring high-risk research on viruses and other agents that can cause pandemics, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim reported. - Another report, from the HHS Office of the Inspector General, found the department made significant errors in its oversight of grants to the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance, which collaborated on coronavirus research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, per The Times.
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| 3. Deaths jump among pregnant women |
| The number of women who died during pregnancy or shortly after giving birth jumped in the first year of the pandemic, a study in JAMA Network Open shows. Why it matters: While pregnancy-associated causes were still the leading cause of death, the jump in mortality between 2019 and 2020 was largely not related to the pregnancies themselves. By the numbers: The study, led by the University of Texas at San Antonio, found mortality rates increased by 22%, from 27.5 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 33.6 deaths per 100,000 live births for pregnancy-associated causes in 2020. - They jumped 36%, from 26.4 to 36 per 100,000 live births for nonpregnancy causes over that time.
- Mortality rates increased "significantly" for drug poisoning, motor vehicle collisions and homicide, but did not increase due to suicide.
What they're saying: "One of the main messages, I think, from this is really that there's a much bigger societal problem facing pregnant women and new mothers who are in that postpartum period where, you know, that's a very stressful time of life," Jeffrey Howard, an author of the study and associate professor of public health at the University of Texas at San Antonio told CNN. |
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| A message from PhRMA |
| Data shows insurers and their PBMs shift costs to patients |
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| Costly OOP expenses tied to deductible and coinsurance requirements are a leading concern for patients with commercial insurance. These harmful practices put in place by insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) are even causing patients to abandon their medicines. Learn more. |
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| 4. Data du jour: Parents' worries |
 Data: Reproduced from Pew Research Center ; Chart: Axios Visuals Kids' mental health is now parents' biggest concern, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center, Axios' Astrid Galván writes. The big picture: Social media and the pandemic have ushered in a new dimension to parents' already challenging jobs. By the numbers: 40% of parents said they are extremely or very worried that their kids will struggle with anxiety or depression. - 35% felt the same about their kids being bullied.
- Concerns over their kid getting shot were farther down the list at 22%.
Related: The surgeon general says 13-year-olds are too young to join social media platforms. |
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| 5. While you were weekending |
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| Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios |
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| 🏥 "Please help us": NHS workers reveal the extent of workplace pressures. (The Guardian) ⏰ Why Walmart and CVS are cutting pharmacy hours. (Axios) 👉 Utah becomes the first state in 2023 to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors. (USA Today) |
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| A message from PhRMA |
| Data show PBMs shift costs to patients |
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| Costly out-of-pocket expenses tied to deductible and coinsurance requirements are a leading concern for patients with commercial insurance. New IQVIA data break down how insurers and their PBMs are impacting how patients access and afford their medicines. |
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| Did someone forward this email? Subscribe here. Thanks for reading, and thanks to senior editor Adriel Bettelheim and senior copy editor Bryan McBournie for the edits. |
 | | Your personal policy analyst is here. | | |
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