Dive Brief:
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Drugmakers are fighting new drives in several states to cap or justify price increases.
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A cost regulation measure is on the ballot in California in November, and a similar measure may make the ballot in Ohio.
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Similar measures have been defeated or stalled in numerous states in recent months.
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Dive Insight:
The drug industry has opened a rapid response operation in Washington and is pushing back on drives in several states, Stat reports.
Another tactic: Criticizing insurance companies for increasing out-of-pocket costs to consumers. Fights between insurance and pharma interests are nothing new, but they also put their mutual customers right in the middle, possibly wishing for a pox on both houses.
And while it's well-known that pharma and biotech can be enormously profitable, the industry also wants to do a better job of reminding the public that the fields can be just as financially risky. "We will remind elected officials that, despite the rhetoric on drug prices, just 1 out of 10 biotech companies actually turns a profit," BIO CEO Jim Greenwood said in his keynote address at the BIO conference this week, Stat reported.