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The pharmaceutical industry is preparing to take a hit in Democrats’ next major legislative package — and the long-untouchable powerhouse is racing to contain the damage. Democratic lawmakers are weighing whether to include drug pricing measures that could extract tens of billions of dollars from the industry, or potentially more, to help pay for a massive infrastructure bill they could try to pass along party lines this summer. (Luthi and Owermohle, 3/23)

KHN: Democrats Eye Medicare Negotiations To Lower Drug Prices

Democrats, newly in control of Congress and the White House, are united behind an idea that Republican lawmakers and major drugmakers fiercely oppose: empowering the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate the prices of brand-name drugs covered by Medicare. But they do not have enough votes without Republican support in the Senate for the legislation they hope will lower the price consumers pay for prescription drugs. That raises the possibility that Democrats will use a legislative tactic called reconciliation, as they did to pass President Joe Biden’s covid relief package, or even eliminate the Senate filibuster to keep their promise to voters. (Huetteman, 3/23)

In a move directed at the owners of Purdue Pharma, a pair of Democratic lawmakers has introduced a bill that would prevent people who have not filed for bankruptcy from being released from lawsuits brought by local communities or the U.S. government. The legislation follows controversy over the bankruptcy plan filed last week by the drug maker. If the plan is approved by a federal bankruptcy court, some members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue, would receive immunity from the nearly 3,000 lawsuits filed by states, counties, cities and tribes seeking compensation for the costs of the opioid crisis. (Silverman, 3/22)

Earlier this week, Purdue Pharma filed a bankruptcy plan that would have some members of the Sackler family, which owns the drug company, relinquish control and pay nearly $4.3 billion to reimburse states, cities, and tribes for the costs associated with the long-running opioid crisis in the U.S. The plan is designed to end nearly 3,000 lawsuits that blamed Purdue for helping to spark a wave of prescription abuse, addictions, and deaths over the past two decades. (Silverman, 3/19)