Medicare spent $2 billion for one drug as the manufacturer paid doctors millions

[Daniel E.]

Medicare spent $2 billion for one drug as the manufacturer paid doctors millions
CNN.com
June 29, 2018

More than 80% of doctors who filed Medicare claims in 2016 for H.P. Acthar Gel -- a drug best known for treating a rare infant seizure disorder -- received money or other perks from the drugmakers, according to a CNN analysis of publicly identified prescribers...

Medicare spent nearly $2 billion on Acthar from 2011-2016, according to the agency's data -- even though some doctors say an equally effective treatment would have cost a tiny fraction of that amount. Medicare spending on Acthar from 2013-2016 accounted for nearly $1.8 billion...

A steroid like prednisone can cost as little as $2.50 for a bottle of pills -- less than a venti coffee from Starbucks -- compared to Acthar at nearly $39,000 a vial of injectable liquid. Over a course of treatment, those figures get even more dramatic: $7.50 for three bottles of prednisone vs. $117,000 for three vials of Acthar...

"Not only should clinicians consider the lack of evidence supporting the efficacy of ACTH, but its story should cause us to reexamine and strengthen our standards for FDA approval, Medicare and private insurance coverage, and professional use patterns"...

 

[Daniel E.]

Anatomy of a 97,000% drug price hike: One family's fight to save their son
June 29, 2018
CNN.com

...Even at some top medical centers like Johns Hopkins, Acthar isn't offered as a first-line treatment due to its exorbitant price tag.

"We have found oral prednisolone to be equally effective, as have several other researchers," said Dr. Eric Kossoff, director of Hopkins' pediatric neurology residency program...

"A lot of us had to ride this roller coaster of whether to use [Acthar or] whether to use oral steroids first," Dr. Phillip L. Pearl, a professor of neurology at Harvard, once told an FDA panel as company executives listened. "It has affected practices across the country."

Another neurologist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear Mallinckrodt would retaliate against his hospital, said, "It's ironic that we have a big barrier to treat the most vulnerable portion of our population: our babies...