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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can sign up here.

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. 

A
doctor’s office that charges a monthly fee and doesn’t take
insurance wants to stop the ‘revolving door’ of appointments for
sick kids

• 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