Lilly insulin price reduction has important Medicaid implications - they will reduce their price on branded Humalog by 70% in Q4'23. That's right before a big change in Medicaid rebate policy in Q1'24. 1/5 Starting in 2024, manufacturers who have taken large price increases will actually pay Medicaid each time a drug is used. Right now, their mandatory Medicaid discounts end up at $0, so they still take some loss (their costs). But in 2024, Medicaid could have made $100+ vial. 2/5

What should CMS do if FDA approves aducanumab, a treatment for Alzheimer's Disease? Amy Killelea, Richard Frank, and I have some thoughts in @Health_Affairs this morning. But first, some background. 1/11
healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hbl… Aducanumab has had a complex history, which you can read more about at the link. But if/once the treatment is approved, should we pay for it? Pay for it for everyone who wants it? And what implications do these choices have? 2/11
nytimes.com/2021/06/05/hea…

So #drugpricing twitter is going to be all abuzz about SCOTUS discussing PBMs. But let's be clear - this case isn't about drug prices and PBMs in the way we usually think about them. 1/7
statnews.com/pharmalot/2020… Instead, it's about whether the state can mandate higher payments for less competitive pharmacies. The community pharmacy lobby complained that they weren't getting paid enough, and the state put in a law to protect them. 2/7

For health policy nerds, one of the great (ok, mildly interesting) questions of our time has been: why did manufacturers lower the list price of HCV treatments rather than offer the same price reduction through a PBM rebate? Here's one explanation: 1/9

jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman… @Ian_Reynolds_ and I explain that manufacturers found it profit-maximizing to reduce their HCV list prices rather than offer the same discount via PBM rebate because of the 340B program, that great enigma of the drug-pricing landscape. 2/9