Dispensed: Pharma CEOs on Capitol Hill, the exploding CBD market, and treating kids with new models of primary care
Hello,
Well, it’s certainly been a week. Between drug price hearings
and disgruntled
Bristol-Myers Squibb investors, I’m sure a lot of folks in the
industry are looking forward to the week winding down.
But before it does, I wanted to share some of the stories that
preoccupied the healthcare team here at Business Insider this
week.
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We spent the first half of the week readying for the Senate
hearing with seven top pharmaceutical executives, in total cranking
out six stories on it. Emma Court
has the play-by-play of the whole ordeal.
America’s
top pharma CEOs just got grilled by Congress over the cost of their
drugs
- Seven leaders of major pharmaceutical companies testified about
high US drug prices as part of a congressional hearing on
Tuesday. - Lawmakers pushed the pharma executives on what they and their
organizations could do to make change for patients. - “We’ve all seen the finger-pointing,” said Chuck Grassley, the
Republican senator from Iowa who led the hearing. “But like most
Americans, I’m sick and tired of the blame game. It’s time for
solutions.” - The pharma executives sought to justify prices by emphasizing
the value of their medicines to patients. They also shifted blame
to other parts of the US healthcare system like
intermediaries.
And here’s a rundown of our other dispatches coming out of the
hearing, in case you’re still digesting all that we learned this
week (I know I am).
Congress will grill 7 top pharma executives over the high cost of
drugs today. Here’s how they’re set to shift the
blame.
The CEO of a $210 billion pharma company says that US drug prices
are working against patients. One chart explains
why.
7 pharma execs just told Congress: Don’t expect the Trump
administration’s newest drug pricing plan to lower all US drug
prices yet
Everybody is talking about the high cost of prescription drugs.
Here’s who’s actually responsible for the prices you
pay.
Pharma companies want the government to do something about high
drug prices, so long as it’s not forcing them to lower their drug
prices
While that was unfolding, Erin
Brodwin had a slew of great stories about the exploding CBD
market, and some developments in the lab for marijuana
compounds.
Wall Street thinks the $1 billion market for CBD could explode to
$16 billion by 2025
Scientists just made marijuana compounds in a lab for the first
time, and it could open the door to new treatments for devastating
diseases
This ER doctor is about to launch the first marijuana breathalyzer,
and it could completely upend how we do drug
testing
Regulators are gearing up to decide how to handle the $1 billion
CBD industry, whose lotions and cookies currently exist in a legal
haze
I had the scoop on Parsley Health’s expansion into pediatrics.
It was interesting to understand how the no-insurance, monthly fee
approach to primary care could work to help kids manage chronic
conditions like asthma or food allergies. And Parsley isn’t the
only primary care startup getting into pediatrics — One Medical
has been testing it out too, with plans to expand pediatric
practices into more of its offices.
- Parsley Health is a medical practice that charges a monthly fee
and doesn’t take insurance. - The $150-a-month membership provides access to doctors and
health coaches, with the goal of treating conditions in a more
comprehensive way than traditional primary care. - Now the practice is expanding into pediatrics in its New York
office, aiming to provide better care for children and teens with
chronic conditions. - The cost for kids is $129 a month.
Oh! And while I have you — are you a BI Prime subscriber? (I
hope the answer is yes!) We’d love to get your feedback on the
kinds of stories we’re working on via this quick
survey.
As always, questions? Tips? Stories we should be chasing? Words
of encouragement that spring will soon be here? Find me at
lramsey@businessinsider.com or the whole team at
healthcare@businessinsider.com.
– Lydia
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Dispensed: Pharma CEOs on Capitol Hill, the exploding CBD market, and treating kids with new models of primary care