This post originally appeared on SLS Blogs and is reposted with permission of the author. You can read the piece in its entirety here.
By Rebecca Wolitz
With multi-million dollar treatments entering the market, prescription drug costs accounting for between 15-17% of healthcare expenditures, and nearly 1 in 4 Americans unable to afford a prescription medication in the past 12 months, it is no wonder that prescription drug costs remain an important topic of national discussion. There has been a flurry of legislative proposals at both the federal and state levels this year, with Nancy Pelosi’s H.R. 3 recently passing the House. And, within the executive branch, HHS just issued its drug importation proposal. Both of these developments have been within the past few weeks; there is a lot going on. Not to mention we are heading into an election year.
For a legislative angle and analysis, Michelle Mello and I have an article forthcoming in January’s Northwestern University Law Review examining ways to address unconscionable drug pricing. For an analysis of HHS’s drug importation draft ruling, I’d direct readers to this thread by Rachel Sachs.
This post will focus on some recent litigation developments. With 2019 now come to a close, I wanted to recap where we are with California’s SB 17 transparency law litigation as well as briefly note two new cases for readers to follow who are interested in drug pricing and access issues.
