In Midst Of Furor Over High Drug Prices, Pharma Industry Aims To Flip Script With New Ads
Many of the ads, aimed at lawmakers and other influencers, feature patients who have been helped by new medicines and company scientists working on drug development. In other national news, as millennials become a larger percentage of patients, the "instant gratification generation" could change everything about health care, and the Los Angeles Times looks at why it took so long for the FDA to warn the public about the dirty scopes that caused dozens of patients to get sick.
The Wall Street Journal:
Drug Industry Launches Ad Campaign Aimed At Lawmakers
The pharmaceutical industry, under fire this election season for rising drug prices, is ramping up a new advertising campaign designed to improve its reputation with lawmakers as it lobbies against any effort to rein in prescription costs. The sector’s largest trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, says it intends to spend several million dollars this year, and 10% more than in 2015, on digital, radio and print ads that emphasize the industry’s role in developing new drugs and advancing medical science. (Walker, 2/7)
USA Today/Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal:
Here's How Millennials Could Change Health Care
With a presidential election fast approaching, healthcare is an issue that’s getting plenty of traction on both sides of the political aisle. For Republicans, taking down President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act remains a red meat issue. Republican presidential candidates are also trotting out an ACA repeal as a key incentive for voting a member of the party into the Oval Office. Healthcare has been a key issue in the Democratic debates as well, with Hillary Clinton pushing back on rival Bernie Sanders’ plan for universal health care. Amid all the debate, however, one group could prove to be the wild card. As more millennials interact with the healthcare system, the industry will find itself facing a more sophisticated and demanding group that won’t stand for its inefficiencies with the same begrudging acceptance of previous generations, said Kathy Hempstead, director of insurance coverage for the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. (Hidalgo, 2/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Why It Took Years For The FDA To Warn About Infections Tied To Medical Scopes
An outbreak at a Pennsylvania hospital in late 2012 should have been an early warning that a reusable medical scope was spreading deadly infections and nearly impossible to disinfect. But staff at the federal Food and Drug Administration lost the report, one of multiple missteps that allowed doctors and hospitals to continue using the scope for three more years even as dozens of patients were sickened. The missing paperwork, revealed in a recent Senate inquiry, underscores the serious shortcomings in the antiquated national database used to monitor the safety of medical devices, which even the FDA has long admitted is flawed. (Peterson, 2/8)