The U.S. Congress has proposed reference pricing for Medicare Part D under Congressional Bill H.R.3 with the objective of benchmarking U.S. drug pricing against an average price basket of 11 countries for the 125 drugs with the greatest net spending in the United States. U.S. drug prices were found to be 3.7 times higher on average.

This study identifies 69 medicines that would be affected by international reference pricing under H.R.3, representing 70% of Medicare Part D spending. We calculate that implementing H.R.3 would lower overall industry revenue by $71.6 billion a year, a reduction of 58% in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) revenue.

For the last month, a debate has raged over which approach to managing the spread of COVID-19 is correct. One aspect of this debate is about the efficacy of widespread testing. South Korea and Germany have pursued aggressive testing. The Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK – at least initially – limited testing and instead sought to create herd immunity by letting the virus run its course. Which approach is better? Given the implications of getting the choice wrong, opinions towards both approaches have been strong and vociferous. Adding to the confusion, experts disagree about which of many variables are more important for explaining higher rates of morbidity from COVID19. These include the percent of a population over 65 years of age, the case fatality rate, the population density of a region, the availability of hospital beds and ventilators per 1000 population, rates of tourism, usage of public transport, and number of university students in a given area to name a few.

19 March 2020



What's the impact of Pharmaceutical Benefit Managers on US Insulin prices? In researching HR3, Vital Transformation found $2 bil in 'lost' revenue reported in Medicare Part D, but missing in audited actual sales on company balance sheets. Time to bring back the Rebate Rule?