So let's get this right... @statnews elevates someone who would talk the US (as they have other countries) out of paying for a life-saving drug like Trikafta instead of recognizing the courage and intellect of someone like Gunnar Esiason @G17Esiason...

https://twitter.com/statnews/status/1635628719728386049

...who has #CF, considers himself fortunate to be able to get Trikafta in US thanks to insurance that hasn't yet totally succumbed to bad math, & advocates for the value of the lives of patients elsewhere, urging other countries not to fall for bad math.
realclearhealth.com/articles/2022/…

Some say "urging calm" makes people panic more; stay quiet. I disagree.

The source of panic is uncertainty. People are afraid to talk about risks of a run on their bank in case they give everyone ideas. But everyone already is wondering about their bank. So let's talk. SVB's failure is not some punishment for tech elite who can handle losing their money... because it's not about the elite and b/c depositors almost certainly won't be losing their money.

One year since Russia attacked Ukraine, don’t take a moment of silence. Give real thought to year 2.

See how aid works in detail by reading @directrelief‘s report. See where money & medicines come from & where they go and how. Let that guide what you do directrelief.org/2023/02/ukrain…… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Direct Relief is THE MAIN non-profit in the world capable of taking in, storing, and distributing donated medicines & other medical supplies to regions in need during peacetime, war, & catastrophe.

How much do you think ICER math (which Democratic Party often cites) would say US should spend on drugs/vaccines against smallpox in case of outbreak/pandemic?

(I estimate it spends ~$100m/year)

@statnews @SenateHELP @icer_review @IAmBiotech @PhRMA @SchaefferCenter @NPLB_org Hint: ICER takes a very simplified approach to valuing a medicine that requires that someone be sick so they can be treated and get a measurable benefit in the present to score any value. If no one is sick, there is no benefit (no effectiveness).

M&A is a necessary process of resorting products, cash, & people to where they are most highly valued. Whether the moment feels like sex or autophagy, it's disruptive to people who may wonder what their next job will be. We can help with that.
racap.com/the-right-job#… There are tons of great jobs across our ecosystem. Many are at companies in the RA portfolio. When a company is going through M&A, at invitation of CEO & HR team, we presented to their team a Talent Briefing of many of the relevant jobs in the RA ecosystem.

Tension among insurance, innovator, & patients w/CF over access to life saving medicine is gutting. B/c Vertex was providing copay assistance, insurance plans stopped covering its drug. So Vertex cut back. Other innovators & their investors watching: what will patients do?

https://twitter.com/CF_Foundation/status/1604848999412150277

Here's how insurance and innovation are supposed to work together. Can't have most biomedical innovation w/ insurance, and insurance wouldn't be as valuable w/o treatments/cures to pay for. They are intertwined.

This article represents failing of drug industry to make its case to public & failing of journalists to grasp what they are really writing about.
Hospitals are laundering their expenses through drugs prices at the expense of innovation. @IAmBiotech @WSJ wsj.com/articles/340b-… How can public ever understand this stuff if journalists missed the extreme absurdity of what they are writing about when they looked right at it.

Let's break it down:

A. Drug companies are forced by 340b law to sell their products to certain hospitals for very low prices.

It’s come to this: to save biomedical innovation, companies that invent & develop medicines must now stop providing assistance to patients whose insurance forces them to ask drug companies for free meds as if they aren’t covered. khn-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/khn.org/ne… It’s like when UK & France say they want to pay less for a drug and a company has to play hardball. Because R&D is expensive & we can’t afford other countries or US plans to free-ride, driving up the cost for others of supporting innovation.

NPLB’s leveling up its systematic effort to solve healthcare affordability while preserving innovation (it’s not one or the other).

We’re inviting all stakeholders (patients, physicians, researchers, CEOs, biotech employees, investors) to join us as FIRST RESPONDERS… 1/5

https://twitter.com/NPLB_org/status/1596477619607728128

The form will show you how broadly we are recruiting for our coalition. You’ll get updates on first look at NPLB projects to reframe drug pricing & insurance so solutions are clearer, alerts to developments from DC, & Calls to Action.

Join in as we make visible progress.

Dear EQRx, it's good to have you reaffirm that drug development is driven by market-based pricing. While @endpts would say that you've done a 180, it only sounds like that to those who don't understand how the market works. endpts.com/eqrxs-pricing-… EQRx's approach was always part of the market (fast-follower me-toos competing on price), not a repudiation of it, but pharma-skeptics didn't appreciate nuances of novel-sounding "equivilar". They believed you were somehow "fixing" a broken market and one even joined your board!

What’s the best #CRM for a #nonprofit that already has its own website. (mailchimp, nationbuilder, everyaction, hubspot… etc)?

(Yes, It’s come to casting a question into the twittersea on a Sunday.) Mailchimp seems like a fine mailing platform, but front end has overly simplistic forms (can’t seem to build in logic, like one can with surveymonkey or google forms) so can’t ask all questions we want to of new volunteers.

One might wonder if there was moment when Congress tweaked policy to discourage antibiotic R&D.

We are witnessing that moment again… as not single Dem Senator has spine to avert same thing happening to small molecule R&D for diseases of aging (cancer, Alz, Parkinson’s, etc).  It’s demoralizing to see 50 powerful senators, each able to insist on simple budget-neutral fix, stay in herd.

They will demand applause for their leadership… but know, if they let this 9 vs 13 error stay in bill, they stood for nothing. just waste.

@SenSchumer et al. Shame.

Reasonable, modest, & budget-neutral. An easy way to fix drug pricing policy legislation (currently being debated in Congress) that would earn support of patients, doctors, investors, & whole innovation community.

Why won't Congress make the fix? pink.pharmaintelligence.informa.com/PS146809/Dont-…

(1/x) There's no reason to treat small molecules differently than biologics - but current bill's price negotiation sets in at only 9 years for small mols, while biologics get 13 years. That's four fewer years for a small molecule to generate a return. (2/x)

Lots of small dev-stage biotech companies use ATMs (or will) to raise money. Most have no idea how low fees could really be… answer: way lower than u know (<<2.25%).

Email me (CEO/CFOs have my email) to know which bank offers best rate as of this moment.

Save $’s for trials. This will no doubt upset a few who currently enjoy the status quo. But times are tough for everyone. Senate bill threatens to kill small molecule drugs for diseases of aging. Cost of capital is high in public markets & higher on private side. Companies searching for savings.

Congress is on the verge of gutting cancer & Alzheimer’s R&D w/ a few careless lines in reconciliation bill b/c seemingly everyone is tired of trying to do the right thing & thinks no one will notice.

You’ll never want to contribute to a campaign after this reading this. 1/20 First Democrats tried to pass HR3, which would have imposed price controls on any medicine that patients really wanted. That was just plain stupid, but sadly many Democrats (& a growing number of “new” Republicans) believe innovation grows on trees.

Offering “help”, @MorningstarInc is instead punching patients in the face by unquestioningly adopting a weak branch of economics that patients say is racist, devalues those w/ disabilities, & intentionally undervalues meds so insurance denies them.😬
1/15 morningstar.com/articles/10994… For example, @SuePeschin of the @Aging_Research has pointed out that the approach @MorningstarInc is promoting is racist. morningconsult.com/opinions/cost-…

So now @MorningstarInc is promoting ICER's math, which ignores that drugs go generic, offer risk reduction, spare caregivers, & lots more... condemning companies that invent medicines. Morningstar, you know math too well to fall for ICER's. I'll show you.
morningstar.com/articles/10994… This is the very same math that Austalia used to deny patients access to Vertex's Trikafta. Patient advocate @G17Esiason pointed out the flaws... scathingly. Australia changed its mind soon after. Gunnar can address you, too. realclearhealth.com/articles/2022/…

Embarrassing for @Harvard. I think that if leadership appreciated that sloppy health economics analyses cause real harms, they might urge faculty to do their work at least well enough that Adam Fein (@DrugChannels) couldn’t shred it so comically.

drugchannels.net/2022/06/a-new-… One of my favorite parts (spans 3 tweets):

“To study launch prices over time, the authors created an equally weighted price index of all new drugs that happened to be approved in a given year.”

Academics from @BrookingsInst & @SchaefferCenter teach 5 things about drugs that lead them to think price controls wouldn’t hurt R&D… yet miss that you can’t judge a whole ecosystem by its most profitable elements. Even their colleagues disagree w/them.
brookings.edu/blog/usc-brook… Compare to this paper from @SchaefferCenter that shows just how deeply cuts to US prices would impact R&D (b/c yes, Europe and Canada freeload) & would not advocate price controls. healthpolicy.usc.edu/research/globa…

If you had COVID this year, was it

1. Reported (ie you report it, got tested at a lab/hospital, which reported) or

2. Not reported (eg found out using at home rapid antigen test)

Let’s see how much more widespread it’s been compared to what’s reported.

Please pick one: So my highly scientific stat sig analysis worthy of publication in @NatureMedicine and @TheLancet I’m sure is that there are about 5x as many people as are reporting. Ratio here is 2:1 unreported to reported. Half asymptomatic, but some still know b/c test when others turn pos.

COVID snagging households all around us. Child tests+ & isolated, parents negative, then pos, sometimes AFTER turning symptomatic. Tests not good enough. Life disrupted.

Vaccine can be useful even if short lasting by bridging us through critical periods. 1/ If young person has vacation planned requiring neg test to fly, getting COVID means canceling. We worry about that. I would take booster, even one that made me feel like sludge for a day, if it reassured me that our travel plans wouldn’t be disrupted.