No Patient Left Behind

For cancer patients, Breast Cancer Awareness doesn't end in October – it’s a year-round fight. That’s why it’s our responsibility as a community to make sure that patients have access to life-saving medication without high out-of-pocket costs. Earlier this month, we worked with the Brem Foundation to Defeat Breast Cancer and HarrisX - a Stagwell Inc. company to conduct a new study which found that 48% of women would likely skip breast cancer treatment if their out-of-pocket costs exceeded $2,000. Additionally, recent research from the American Cancer Society projected that 42,000 women will die from breast cancer this year. Our survey uncovered that high out-of-pocket costs are a huge barrier preventing women from receiving the drugs and preventative care that they need. It’s simple: No one should have to fight breast cancer AND their health plan’s high out-of-pocket costs. Read more about the impact of high out-of-pocket costs on breast cancer patients in the USA TODAY: https://lnkd.in/eV7_wYs4 And consider becoming an NPLB First Responder. Together, we can demand that insurance cover doctor-prescribed treatments without high out-of-pocket costs. Otherwise, what are premiums for? https://lnkd.in/e5NA49RW #FixInsurance #BreastCancer #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

Very cool behind-the-scenes look at the science, funding, and teamwork that's needed to advance a promising Alzheimer's treatment idea to the clinical trial phase in the hope that it may one day be approved to help patients and their families. Society cannot take #AffordableInnovation for granted.

💡 The Power of Innovation and Generics 💡 The true promise of innovation is realized when medicines go generic, delivering trillions in savings to society—just as the patent system intended. Without the right incentives, most ideas will never leave the lab. The potential profits of a new drug motivate investors to provide scientists and researchers with the resources they need to discover new cures. And expiring patents grow society’s collection of inexpensive generic medicines, forever upgrading human health. Unlike medicines, hospitals never become generic. With the right combination of policies, we can preserve the foundation for medical progress and make today’s new cures affordable to patients through proper insurance. Help us support affordability & innovation: https://lnkd.in/eVYzX8-C

ICYMI: “How much does the pharma industry spend on R&D anyway? Probably more than you thought” Last Friday, NPLB hosted a webinar to review the latest research on drug R&D spending and the impact public policy has on innovation and patient access. KEY TAKEAWAYS: Medical breakthroughs are more expensive than previously thought: “If we spend $276 billion as an ecosystem in a year, and in a typical year we get somewhere between 40 to 50 drugs approved, that leaves you with over $5 billion of spending that needs to be undertaken by investors [for each new drug],” said Amitabh Chandra, professor at Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. There is still an unmet patient need for new treatments: “There’s so much still to do. There are so many unmet needs; we need better treatments. We need cures, if at all possible,” said Heidi Floyd, Director of The Pink Fund, a patient advocacy group for breast cancer patients and their families. Public funding supports innovators, but the NIH can’t invent new medicines alone: “The NIH has allocated about $5.6B to clinical trials…which is dramatically lower than $276B,” said Silas Martin, Head of Access and Policy Research at Johnson & Johnson. “But this is not an either or discussion. They are complementary. We need the government and universities to do basic research, and then private industry can add our development and our preclinical research to that body of knowledge… to then bring medicines to patients.” Misguided policy can disturb the R&D pipeline patients and society depend on: “What is happening as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act is investors are not planting the seeds for small-molecule innovation. It’s something that is incredibly harmful to society if we wake up in 10 years and say, ‘Shoot, where did all those small molecules go?” said Tess Cameron, Principal at RA Capital Management. Read the coverage in R&D - Research & Development World here: https://lnkd.in/eTp6MmbX You can find the whole webinar and more resources on our website: https://lnkd.in/e52hzw_S

Drug development is difficult and expensive. Who funds the researchers looking for new cures? Join us this Friday for a webinar surveying the latest research on the drug discovery R&D ecosystem. How much is really spent on new drug R&D? Who funds it? And what impact does public policy have on decision making, innovation, and patient access? You can register for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/gjrJ6Nkg Speakers will include: - Amitabh Chandra (Professor & Director, Health Policy Research, Harvard Business School & Harvard Kennedy School) - Tess Cameron (Principal, RA Capital Management) - Silas Martin (Head, Access & Policy Research at Johnson & Johnson) - Heidi Floyd (Director, the Pink Fund) - Peter L. Rubin (Executive Director, No Patient Left Behind). Want to learn more? Watch our animation on the relationship between public funding, private investment, and the teams of researchers responsible for medical breakthroughs.

A very big deal that Melanie Whittington joined Leerink Partners to build a new Center for Pharmacoeconomics (CPE) division. Turns out economists and investors can quantify the true value of medicines to patients and society. Innovators and patient advocates should demand real-world GCEA methods replace faulty and outdated conventional cost-effectiveness (CEA) math used by biased HTA entities. Stay tuned for more No Patient Left Behind #GCEA research and publications! #ISPOREurope2024 #USCFHEP

Innovation in Medicine Benefits Us All New medicines ultimately benefit all of us. Society ought to pay for them together without burdening those who need them today with high out-of-pocket costs. Most of us pay for health insurance even while we’re healthy. We may need that insurance if we become sick, injured, or develop a chronic disease. Yet many insurance plans still charge high out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs–even for treatments prescribed by their doctor. We believe that insurance should cover prescribed treatments without high out-of-pocket costs. Otherwise, what are premiums for? Learn more and take action: https://lnkd.in/eVYzX8-C #HealthcareInnovation #MedicalResearch #AffordableHealthcare #NPLB

Americans want to pay less at the pharmacy counter. Here’s a simple way to lower health plan out-of-pocket costs. We are not just in peak foliage, but also peak polling season. New data released this week by the Alliance to Fight for Health Care found that 81% of voters want preventive care for chronic diseases to be covered below the deductible. In fact, voters consistently tell pollsters that lowering OOP costs is their top priority – more than twice as important as other solutions proposed in KFF polling. This is not exactly a surprise, but an important signal that candidates, policymakers, and regulators should take note AND take action. Although many Americans are able to afford both their premiums AND the out-of-pocket costs (copays/coinsurance and deductibles) mandated by their health coverage, too many cannot. The Biden Administration should be commended for seeking legislation to cap OOP prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year in the commercial market. While we support that goal, there’s an easier and non-legislative way to help lower out-of-pocket costs in the near term: many employers want to offer first-dollar, pre-deductible coverage with low or no copays today, but because IRS regulations require that, to offer a Health Savings Accounts (HSA), self-insured employers must ensure that their workers pay unnecessarily high out-of-pocket costs. Allowing HSAs in plans with generous pre-deductible coverage of treatments that prevent diseases and their progression would benefit all employees (even those without HSAs) since it would reduce the barriers to companies offering first-dollar coverage of medicines with low/no copays. How the IRS can help The Internal Revenue Service doesn’t have to wait for Congress to act. It can make a slight regulatory change that would enable self and fully insured companies to continue to offer HSAs and offer first-dollar coverage of medicines with low/no copays if they so choose. Please read and sign our latest letter to Secretary Yellen and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Regulatory change doesn’t have to wait for more polling. https://lnkd.in/gmn7izkG Council for Affordable Health Coverage The ERISA Industry Committee SHRM Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC) American Benefits Council

Proud, lucky, and inspired to benefit from D.A. Wallach's leadership and vision on No Patient Left Behind's Board. "It’s time for us to create the golden record of medical knowledge. It’s a deceptively simple idea, but we haven’t done it yet.” https://lnkd.in/eM5PBKpR

Join us October 25 for a webinar on the latest research into new drug R&D. How much is really spent on new drug R&D? Who funds it? And what impact does public policy have on decision making, innovation, and patient access? Speakers will include: - Amitabh Chandra (Professor & Director, Health Policy Research, Harvard Business School & Harvard Kennedy School) - Tess Cameron (Principal, RA Capital Management) - Silas Martin ( Head, Access & Policy Research at Johnson & Johnson) - Heidi Floyd (Director, the Pink Fund) - Peter L. Rubin (Executive Director, No Patient Left Behind) You can RSVP for the webinar here: https://lnkd.in/e52hzw_S