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Speaking of international prices: is it even possible?
I read through more of the 2,000 comments on the proposal than I’d like to admit, and there were a few clear takeaways. I found only two groups unequivocally supportive of the administration’s plan: Patients For Affordable Drugs and Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Drug Pricing Lab. I was surprised to see even drug pricing advocates like AARP and Knowledge Ecology International raising some concerns with the idea.
A powerful — if obscure — group of congressional Medicare advisors known as MedPAC also dropped a bomb in their comment: they’re saying the idea may not even be feasible. Chief among MedPAC’s concerns: whether vendors will even be able to actually purchase drugs for the international reference price, and what will happen when they can’t. MedPAC also wants to know how HHS is going to calculate the international reference price given the increasing use of confidential rebates in others countries and the variability in how other countries measure their prices.
A number of groups had concerns that could be allayed by some tweaks to the proposal. And the administration is already emphasizing that it’s willing to work with its critics before formally moving it through the regulatory process. That’s why they started with a “notice” of the proposal and not a formal proposal itself, a senior HHS aide told STAT this weekend. “We wanted to hear from stakeholders what their concerns and suggestions would be. We are open to other ideas to fight foreign freeloading, so long as they preserve drug safety and keep the patient at the center.” (A reminder for readers: HHS wants to start moving the rule through the regulatory process by this spring.)
A powerful — if obscure — group of congressional Medicare advisors known as MedPAC also dropped a bomb in their comment: they’re saying the idea may not even be feasible. Chief among MedPAC’s concerns: whether vendors will even be able to actually purchase drugs for the international reference price, and what will happen when they can’t. MedPAC also wants to know how HHS is going to calculate the international reference price given the increasing use of confidential rebates in others countries and the variability in how other countries measure their prices.
A number of groups had concerns that could be allayed by some tweaks to the proposal. And the administration is already emphasizing that it’s willing to work with its critics before formally moving it through the regulatory process. That’s why they started with a “notice” of the proposal and not a formal proposal itself, a senior HHS aide told STAT this weekend. “We wanted to hear from stakeholders what their concerns and suggestions would be. We are open to other ideas to fight foreign freeloading, so long as they preserve drug safety and keep the patient at the center.” (A reminder for readers: HHS wants to start moving the rule through the regulatory process by this spring.)
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