Meet the small biotech taking on CMS 

Ever heard of Akebia Therapeutics? Me neither, until I noticed they had spent more than $1 million on lobbying in the first half of 2019, and they had just filed a new lawsuit against CMS. 

It turns out this Cambridge-based biotech has been feuding with CMS over the government’s decision to deny coverage of their FDA-approved drug, Auryxia, which is used to treat iron deficiency anemia in some patients with kidney disease. 

And after a conversation with the company’s CEO, John Butler, I quickly realized this isn’t your run of the mill spat with the federal government. Don’t believe me? Here’s a sample of what John told me after I asked him about the federal government’s recent initiative to improve kidney care for patients: “The president said patients deserve better. His administration is not living up to that commitment and that’s why we had to bring suit.” 

For more fighting words, check out my story here.

And by the way, you should probably keep an eye on Akebia even after this lawsuit is settled. Butler made it clear that there’s many more issue Akebia plans to lobby on in the coming months and years. 

“As much as we are a small biotech, we are a commercial company with a very important payor in the government, I think it behooves us to be very involved [in Washington],” Butler said.