A federal appeals court rejected Pfizer’s challenge to a U.S. anti-kickback law that the drugmaker said prevented it from helping heart failure patients, many with low incomes, afford the medicine that costs $225,000 annually. For many, these coupons represent the difference between filling a prescription and going without lifesaving care, but there is a lot more here than just a co-pay coupon.
Category Archive: Bad practices
In 2020, over 75% of AbbVie’s’ sales were made to American consumers, yet only 1% of AbbVie’s’ income was reported in the United States for tax purposes. AbbVie’s’ ability to exploit subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on U.S. prescription drug sales signals that big pharma will do anything to avoid hurting profits.
Endpoint News reported “Three major drug distributors are off the hook for what may have been a $2.5 billion payment after a federal judge found them not liable for the opioid epidemic in parts of West Virginia, one of the hardest-hit areas of the country. This is beyond outrageous it’s a classic example of abuse of power.
Suppose you’re on Facebook or Instagram, and Meta has determined you may be interested in cancer treatments. In that case, you may have seen an ad for a dangerous cancer treatment, or one of the 20 or so others recently running from the CHIPSA hospital in Mexico near the US border, all of which are publicly listed in Meta’s Ad Library. They are part of a pattern on Facebook of ads that make misleading or false health claims targeted at cancer patients.
Five of America’s largest health insurers reported more than $11bn in profits in the second quarter – a decline from the same period last year when the Covid-19 pandemic helped drive sky-high profits yet they are having more of a say on patients’ treatments even when HCPs disagree.
Right now, voters are worried about inflation and rising fuel prices, but they ignore the imminent threats to their healthcare. American healthcare continues to be under assault, and unless we address these issues, a severe health issue could bankrupt families.
On Thursday, the House passed a bill that limited the cost of insulin to $35 a month. However, 193 Republican members of the House did not feel that their voters needed to pay less for insulin. The price of insulin is a huge issue, but this bill subsidizes drug intermediaries at taxpayers’ expense.
The House is preparing to vote on a $35 monthly insulin cap later, but there is stern opposition to the plan, which could cost billions over ten years. Essentially taxpayers would be subsidizing drug company profits for the price of a product that should have come down a long time ago.