Pre-Holiday Wrap: A Couple New Drugs, Some Health Policy Chatter, and More Analyses Putting MFPs in Context

In theory, this is my last newsletter for the next 10 days.

I say “in theory,” because I figure there’s a 50/50 chance of someone dumping news into the void today, and I’d rather send you a quick email on Monday than let it sit. 

I’ll pop out some newsletters during the week of New Year’s, and then I’m off for a week for an actual holiday break/milestone birthday celebration. 

I’ll be back in time for J.P. Morgan thoughts (from afar). 

None of this is a promise. It’s been a weird year. 

Otherwise: see you in a bit. Let it snow.

I don’t have the words to express how thankful I am for everyone’s feedback on the “future of Cost Curve” survey. There is a ton of food for thought, and it will absolutely make this a better newsletter. 

I have a lot to process over the next couple of weeks, but a few things are clear: 

• Most of you like what you get right now and don’t want to see it change. And that’s good news: I intend to keep on keeping on with the existing, free Cost Curve. 

• There was interest in more detailed thinking on drug pricing, and that’s something that I’ll probably be delivering early next year. The reports are likely to be paywalled. 

• The idea of more direct interaction -- hopping on Zoom meetings or more formal webinars -- seemed to catch people’s attention. That’s the sort of thing that feels doable. 

• Podcasting and video did not catch people’s attention, which was a little surprise and a little relief. Video has never been my medium, but it's nearly 2025, and I wanted to keep up. But if that’s not going to float your boat …  

• A meaningful number of you would be interested in premium content, and that’s something that I’ll probably experiment with under a paid model. 

• A couple of folks asked about in-person meetups, which sounds like fun. No idea how I’d move forward on that kind of thing, but food for thought. 

• I also received a comment on whether there were better ways to share the wisdom of this community. Also something I would be up for exploring. More polling of the readers is an easy start, but it might also be worth thinking about guest input or other ways of bringing you all into the conversation. 

• I got called out by one reader for being a little more thoughtful about root-cause problems when it comes to drug pricing, and another reader suggested more ex-US content, which is exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for. 

The specifics about what’s next will consume a lot of the coming downtime, and I look forward to sharing them with you.

• One of the big Reid Strategic priorities for 2025 will be more content and analysis about launch prices. To that end, I should mention that Ionis got FDA approval for their med for familial chylomicronemia syndrome, a rare type of high cholesterol. It’s being priced at $595,000 a year, per the voiceover on the company’s con call. Based on a quick search, it appears that the number of media stories to date that included the price is … zero. 

• Mesoblast also garnered an FDA approval for its graft-vs-host disease product, but the company didn’t disclose its price. 

• More good stuff on the Paragon Institute: the Washington Post looked at the conservative health policy think tank today, flagging that the group’s top brass -- Brian Blase and Theo Merkel -- are part of the Trump HHS transition team. This feels like a good time to note that Paragon has a couple of public advisors that have been among the most high-profile defenders of PBMs. I don’t know if that’s important, but it sure is interesting. 

• There’s nothing new, really, in this KFF analysis of the first 10 “maximum fair prices.” Coverage has focused on the difference between MFPs and international prices (ground that was recently covered by Inma Hernandez and her team.) But it’s all well laid out and will probably be a touchstone on this topic. 

• STAT has the details on Gilead unwinding some of its patient assistance for HIV medicines that now have generics on the market. Critics complain that generics still aren’t necessarily affordable and that free-drug program remain an important part of the safety net.

Cost Curve is produced by Reid Strategic, a consultancy that helps companies and organizations in life sciences communicate more clearly and more loudly about issues of value, access, and pricing. We offer a range of services, from strategic planning to tactical execution, designed to shatter the complexity that hampers constructive conversations. 

To learn more about how Reid Strategic can help you, email Brian Reid at [email protected].