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If there was a silver lining in the Covid-19 pandemic, it was the response of the biopharmaceutical industry in generating multiple new vaccines with unprecedented speed – vaccines that promise to bring a sense of normalcy to the world. Social media is awash with selfies of people getting vaccinated (myself included!) universally expressing thanks to the science and scientists that helped to make this happen. Furthermore, it is not unusual to see people get emotional when getting their first shot after more than a year of masks, isolation and, most regrettably, the loss of loved ones. The development of Covid-19 vaccines has been a stunning achievement. Yet, just as we can see the end of the pandemic, numerous proposals are being made to start reining in drug costs. These proposals take many forms: importing drugs from Canada; letting the government negotiate drug prices; allowing the government “march in rights” (revoking patents thereby enabling anyone the rights to a company’s intellectual property). (John LaMattina, 4/12)

Patients who face high out-of-pocket costs for their prescription drugs are too often forced to decide between purchasing their medicine or putting food on the table. In Maryland, many of the highest-cost prescription drugs treat conditions that disproportionately impact seniors and Black patients, such as diabetes and sickle cell disease. Not filling, delaying, or curtailing the use of prescription medications for such conditions can have life-threatening consequences. (Susan Peschin, 4/8)

Amid dire economic conditions brought on by the pandemic and exacerbated by the recent weather conditions, Texas legislators are eyeing policies on prescription drug prices that could jeopardize Texas employers’ ability to provide vital accompanying health care and prescription drug coverage. Health insurance costs for prescription drugs are now higher than for any other expense, including patient hospital costs and doctors’ payments. The cost of health insurance is ranked as the single biggest problem and priority for Texas small-business owners in a recent National Federation of Independent Business survey of members. (Bill Hammond, 4/7)

The second most important issue in the last presidential election – right after the economy, and ahead of the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to an August 2020 Pew Research Center survey – was healthcare. Key components of healthcare for Americans are prescription drug coverage, insurance costs and drug co-pay amounts. According to the Center for Disease Control, nearly 70 percent of Americans aged 40 through 79 take at least one prescription drug daily; more than 22 percent take five or more drugs on a daily basis. Pharmacy costs are top-of-mind for both employers and employees, one reason that many employers have turned to pharmacy benefit managers. (Theresa O'Brien, 4/13)