GSK credits IRA for rebounding adult vaccinations

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Mar 19, 2024 View in browser   By Lauren Gardner and David Lim Presented by With Carmen Paun and Megan R. Wilson Driving the Day Adults are getting more vaccinations now than they were before the pandemic. | Jeff Topping/Getty Images IRA BOOSTED ADULT VACCINATIONS — Pharmaceutical giant GSK says the Inflation Reduction Act is largely responsible for boosting the number of adult vaccinations to above pre-pandemic levels for the first time. The number of shots administered to adults in the first nine months of 2023 reached 21.5 million — an increase of 176,139, or 1 percent, compared with the same period in 2019, according to GSK’s vaccine tracker. The increase — which does not include childhood vaccines — covers adult shots for hepatitis A and B, as well as shingles, pneumococcal disease and tetanus. The numbers do not include influenza shots because of the vaccine’s seasonality nor do they include Covid-19 or newly approved respiratory syncytial virus vaccines. An IRA provision states adults vaccinated under the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit and Medicaid no longer have to pay for a share of the cost. The tracker relies on insurance claims — meaning that those who do not have insurance may not be counted in the total. Why it matters: The data is welcome news to public health experts who worry that controversies around the rollout of Covid vaccines might lead to a persistent drop in other vaccinations, said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “This data makes me optimistic that calmer minds prevail, that most people still get it,” Plescia said. “These vaccines are helpful to them and can reduce illness and reduce some of the other potential negative effects of vaccine-preventable diseases.” Childhood vaccines still lag: Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, said the U.S. is seeing a rebound in childhood vaccination rates, but at a slower rate than among adults. “It’s nerve-wracking that our coverage rates for routine childhood [vaccines] — for measles — have dipped,” Hannan said. “We potentially have imported measles coming in and spreading … we’ve really got to focus on getting the childhood vaccination rates back up.” On Monday, the CDC issued an alert noting the increase in global and U.S. measles cases — a highly contagious disease that can infect 9 in 10 unvaccinated people who come in close contact with an infected person. IT’S TUESDAY. WELCOME BACK TO PRESCRIPTION PULSE. Is everyone feeling better now that D.C.’s cherry blossoms have reached peak bloom? Send news and tips to Lauren Gardner (lgardner@politico.com or @Gardner_LM) or David Lim (dlim@politico.com or @davidalim). A message from CVS Health: CVS Health is reshaping the future of drug pricing, bringing greater transparency and simplicity to the system with our new CostVantage and TrueCost programs. Learn more.   In Congress Drugmaker AstraZeneca has agreed to cap out-of-pocket costs for its inhalers. | John Minchillo/AP Photo ANOTHER INHALER COST CAP — AstraZeneca will cap out-of-pocket costs for uninsured and privately insured patients who use its inhalers at $35 a month, the company said Monday. The move comes just two months after Senate Democrats announced an investigation into the prices of the devices used to treat asthma and other respiratory illnesses. The company’s co-pay assistance program will launch on June 1. Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee wrote to the four biggest makers of inhalers — AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK and Teva — in January, calling for them to submit information on their inhaler sales and development strategies. BI announced a $35 out-of-pocket cap on its inhalers earlier this month. Democrats said the drugmakers use tactics common in the pharma industry, like obtaining duplicative patents or shifting patients onto similar brand-name drugs when older patents expire, to maintain near-monopolies on the inhaler market, even though the devices and the drugs they deliver have been available for decades. Quick back story: Last year, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi committed to cutting the list prices of some of their insulin products amid pressure from HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), President Joe Biden and other Democrats. But the companies also made those decisions in response to growing generic competition and larger Medicaid rebates that kicked in this year. More to come? Sanders said in a statement that he’s spoken with the CEOs of the big four inhaler manufacturers. A GSK spokesperson said Monday the company will work with Sanders “to provide greater transparency into healthcare costs in the United States and to make our best-in-class products accessible to those who need them.” A Teva spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment. DON’T EXPECT HEALTH RIDERS — An effort to attach a package of health care measures to a federal appropriations bill is likely dead, five congressional staffers and two lobbyists told Megan and David. The slate of policies, which would have impacted the pharmacy benefit managers that negotiate prescription drug prices for insurers, reformed hospital billing practices and added new funding for community health centers, fell by the wayside after congressional leaders were reluctant to add to the size of the spending bill. Meanwhile: Top negotiators have reached an agreement on a spending deal for the Department of Homeland Security, allowing congressional leaders to close out a broader spending agreement including HHS funding in the days to come, POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes report, according to a source familiar with the talks. Text of the tranche of funding is expected late today or Wednesday, possibly setting up a House vote on Friday at the earliest if House Speaker Mike Johnson sticks to his pledge to give Republicans 72 hours to review legislative text.   JOIN US ON 3/21 FOR A TALK ON FINANCIAL LITERACY: Americans from all communities should be able to save, build wealth, and escape generational poverty, but doing so requires financial literacy. How can government and industry ensure access to digital financial tools to help all Americans achieve this? Join POLITICO on March 21 as we explore how Congress, regulators, financial institutions and nonprofits are working to improve financial literacy education for all. REGISTER HERE.     In the Courts MISINFO PUSH AT SCOTUS — Most Supreme Court justices did not appear swayed Monday by conservative states’ arguments that the Biden administration violated the First Amendment during the pandemic when officials urged social media companies to take down posts containing disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. Louisiana, Missouri and seven individual plaintiffs brought the suit against top Biden officials, including Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, claiming they unconstitutionally coerced websites like Facebook and Twitter, now known as X, to suppress or remove posts that countered what the government was saying about vaccines and issues like election fraud. The Justice Department argued that the government sought only to encourage companies to enforce their own policies barring Covid misinformation, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Rebecca Kern write.   A message from CVS Health:   Pharma Worldwide THE WEST’S PANDEMIC TREATY PRESSURE CAMPAIGN — The EU and the U.S. are promising funding and backing for African health initiatives on the sidelines of global pandemic treaty talks, POLITICO’s Rory O’Neill reports, raising concerns among other developing nations about what any potential side deals could mean for the negotiations. Some countries and nongovernmental groups worry the West’s promises could sow division among African nations on rich nations’ biggest asks in the pandemic treaty. Smaller nations have pushed for intellectual property flexibilities in the drug sector while demanding guaranteed access to new health products in exchange for sharing data on pathogens — requests opposed by wealthy nations. A CALL FOR EBOLA DRUGS STOCKPILE — A decade after the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in the world, which killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa, the medical nonprofit Doctors Without Borders is calling for the two drugs available to treat the disease be made available through an international stockpile so they can be deployed when needed. The two drugs, which the FDA approved in 2020 and the World Health Organization endorsed two years later, remain under the control of the two producers, Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, and are also part of a U.S. national security stockpile, Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. A Ridgeback spokesperson said the company maintains a stockpile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo “available for rapid deployment in any future outbreak also free of charge.”   Easily connect with the right N.Y. State influencers and foster the right relationships to champion your policy priorities. POLITICO Pro. Inside New York. Learn more.     Pharma Moves The National Brain Tumor Society hired Gary Heimberg as its vice president and counsel of government relations, leading its advocacy strategy and policy agenda. Heimberg comes from law and lobbying firm Covington & Burling and has worked at GSK and the generic medicines trade group. WHAT WE'RE READING Expert advisers to the FDA voted that the benefits outweigh the risks for two medicines — Johnson & Johnson and Legend Biotech’s Carvykti and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abecma — for multiple myeloma when given early after relapse, BioPharma Dive’s Jonathan Gardner reports. Document Drawer The FDA on Monday approved Orchard Therapeutics' Lenmeldy, the first gene therapy for children with a rare genetic disease that affects the central and peripheral nervous system known as metachromatic leukodystrophy. A message from CVS Health: CVS Health is leading the way with new programs that are transforming the pharmacy experience for those who pay for medicine. By bringing greater transparency and simplicity to the system, we are delivering more reliable access to medicine at the pharmacy counter for millions of Americans. CVS Health is reshaping the future of drug pricing at pharmacy counters across America. Learn more.     Follow us on Twitter David Lim @davidalim Lauren Gardner @Gardner_LM   Follow us

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