Pharma Takes Aim at New Legal Foe: State Drug Affordability Boards

  • Mar 28, 2024

    Prescription drug affordability boards (PDABs) have been rising in popularity as a way for states to tamp down on soaring drug prices. But a recent lawsuit filed by one drugmaker and public remarks from the industry’s main trade group make it clear that the pharma sector sees such boards — and the price caps some are authorized to set — as a major threat.

    In a suit filed on March 22, Amgen Inc. takes aim at Colorado’s Prescription Drug Affordability Review Board, which is the closest to becoming the first state board to set an upper payment limit (UPL) on a drug. The state in late February initiated formal rulemaking to set a UPL for Enbrel (etanercept), Amgen’s rheumatoid arthritis treatment, after determining it was unaffordable.

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  • Leslie Small

    Leslie has been working in journalism since 2009 and reporting on the health care industry since 2014. She has covered the many ups and downs of the Affordable Care Act exchanges, the failed health insurer mega-mergers, and hundreds of other storylines spanning subjects such as Medicaid managed care, Medicare Advantage, employer-sponsored insurance, and prescription drug coverage. As the managing editor of Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits, she writes and edits for both publications while overseeing a small team of reporters who also focus on the managed care sector. Before joining AIS Health, she was a senior editor for the e-newsletter Fierce Health Payer, and she started her career as a copy editor at multiple local newspapers. She graduated with a dual degree in journalism and political science from Penn State University.

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