Health Care — Drugmaker caps its inhalers at $35 a month

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View Online Health Care Health Care The Big Story  Drugmaker caps its inhalers at $35 a month  One of the top inhaler manufacturers in the U.S. announced plans on Thursday to cap the out-of-pocket cost of all its inhalers at $35 a month starting later this year after facing Democratic ire.  © AP Boehringer Ingelheim announced that starting on June 1, all its inhaler products will be capped at $35 a month, aiming the decision at patients with employer-sponsored insurance and those who are underinsured and uninsured.    This comes about two months after Democratic senators sent a letter to the top inhaler manufacturers for the U.S. — AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Teva — as part of an investigation into the "exorbitant" price of inhalers.    "We want to do our part to help patients living with COPD or asthma who struggle to pay for their medications. This new program supports patients with predictable, affordable costs at the pharmacy counter," Jean-Michel Boers, president and CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim's U.S. operations, said in a statement.    Boehringer Ingelheim's primary asthma product is Spiriva® Respimat®, a long-acting bronchodilator that can be taken with corticosteroids in cases of severe asthma.    Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) welcomed the announcement, saying, "If Boehringer Ingelheim can take action to cap the cost of inhalers at $35 in the United States and lower the list price of some of the inhalers it manufactures, these other companies can do the same."    This move echoes the actions taken by insulin manufacturers last year. Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly all launched similar programs capping patient out-of-pocket costs at $35 a month for certain insulin products.    Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: Concern about COVID reaches record low across political spectrum: Survey Concern about the health threat posed by COVID-19 has reached a record low across the political spectrum, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. Twenty percent of all Americans in the survey said they think the virus is a "major threat" to "[t]he health of the U.S. population as a whole." Twelve percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 28 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents …  Full Story White House hits Johnson for uncertainty on IVF ruling The White House is bashing Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for saying Thursday that lawmakers have “to grapple with” questions about whether destroying embryos is murder after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled embryos are children, temporarily pausing some in vitro fertilization (IVF) services in the state. In an interview with CBS host Tony Dokoupil, Johnson was asked whether destroying embryos is murder. He replied, …  Full Story Mike Johnson says Congress won't deal with key IVF question House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday that Congress would not address a key question surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF) in the wake of a controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling on embryos. 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Does the government want to know? US kidney care is broken. But we have the means to fix it.   You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Check out The Hill's Health Care page for the latest coverage. Like this newsletter? Take a moment to view our other topical products here 📩 Privacy Policy  |  Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe  1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

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