Only about one-quarter of the 40 gene therapies projected to launch by the end of 2025 would have potential US patient populations of more than 50,000. But a handful of treatments could target millions of individuals.

New report makes a case for further scrutiny of the 340B program's contributions to high drug costs, although manufacturers remain the main target of legislative and regulatory reform proposals.

Legislation authorizing the US government to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers failed to pass in one key House committee as a trio of Democrats joined Republicans to vote against advancing the policy.   

A cap set at $2,000 would help nearly 1 million more seniors than a cap set at $3,100, according to new study by Kaiser Family Foundation. Either competing legislative proposal would probably be welcomed by pharma industry as way to defuse pricing debate.

Biopharma likely approves of the Administration’s concern that QALYs, a commonly used metric in cost effectiveness evaluations, may not be appropriate for drug pricing reform policies because it could disadvantage people with disabilities.

CMMI payment demonstrations are viewed as way of skirting statutory obstacles to experimenting with new approaches to reimbursement and could lead to significant drug pricing reforms if legislative efforts fail. However, HHS is not signaling an intent to pursue transformational new models at this point.