Minnesota
New Minnesota prescription drug board gets up and running but expects industry resistance
Debate in Washington over prescription drug pricing has gone on for a long time. But state leaders, including those in Minnesota, have grown impatient with the pace of activity in Congress, so they’re trying to tackle cost matters themselves.
That’s one of the drivers behind a new Prescription Drug Affordability Board, which was established in law last year and will soon begin its work.
“The board is going to look for the drugs that have the biggest impact on Minnesotans,” said DFL state Rep. Zack Stephenson, the lead author of the legislation that created the board.
“We really want to find the drugs that are causing the most stress to Minnesotans and start there,” Stephenson said.
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There are similar efforts in other states — with Colorado the furthest along — to try to bring down prescription drug prices. The boards are often referred to as “PDABs.”
Stephenson said Minnesota’s board is unique because it is authorized to determine if drug manufactures are overcharging and reduce prices accordingly for any prescription drug.
“We’ve passed the strongest prescription drug affordability board in the country,” Stephenson explained. “There are no carveouts, no exceptions. It has all the tools that are needed to try and really make a difference in bringing down the cost of prescription drugs.”
Sen. Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, answers questions about the health insurance exchange bill before it passed on a 39-28 vote on Mar. 18, 2013 at the State Capitol in St. Paul. Jennifer Simonson | MPR News 2013
Tony Lourey is one seven voting board members. He was known for his healthcare expertise while serving in the Minnesota Legislature and later in the executive branch. He said the board has a lot of work ahead of it, and he’s expecting help from the Minnesota Departments of Health and Commerce.
Lourey said he’s hopeful pharmaceutical manufacturers will cooperate.
“We’re not trying to deny a profit margin for any entity within the healthcare system,” Lourey said. “But we have to make sure that it’s not exorbitant.”
The legislation that created the board also authorized the state to cap prices for generic drugs. That piece is already the subject of litigation from an industry trade group called the Association for Accessible Medicines. Last month, a federal judge put enforcement of that measure on hold as the lawsuit proceeds; the state is appealing.
There is expectation that industry groups will challenge the new board’s authority in court, too.
“We were very interested obviously in this conversation,” said Reid Porter a senior director at PhRMA which represents drug makers. The group spent nearly a million dollars during last year’s legislation lobbying against the board, according to records on file with the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
“The truth is that PDABs bluntly risk patients access to medicine,” Porter said. “They reduce predictability for patients, they tend to ignore the true reasons for high patient out of pocket costs and they jeopardize development of new medicines.”
Supporters of the effort to reduce the cost of prescription drugs say the pharmaceutical industry is much more concerned about preserving profit margins than patient access to medicine.
The Minnesota Council of Health Plans, which represents Minnesota’s non-profit health insurers, thinks the new drug affordability board is a worthy effort.
“We’re concerned with any, any part of the healthcare system that adds costs to the system,” said Dan Endreson the director of government affairs at the council.
“Drugs have become a bigger part of the pie when it comes to healthcare spending,” Endreson said. “It’s gotten now almost larger than in hospital care.”
TakeAction Minnesota, an advocacy organization aligned with many Democratic causes, pushed hard for the board. It spent more than $137,000 last session on lobbying, but on an array of issues beyond just pharmaceutical pricing.
The group’s spokesperson, Kenza Hadj-Moussa, is encouraging board members to move ahead with their work rather than be intimidated by legal challenges.
“It will be really important for Minnesota’s Prescription Drug Affordability Board to stay the course and to just stay focused on the work,” Hadj-Moussa said. “We believe it is completely in legal bounds.”
A rest area along Interstate 94 in Minnesota has been closed to trucks until about Independence Day to accommodate an almost $3 million improvement project.
The eastbound I-94 Enfield rest area between St. Cloud, Minnesota and the Twin Cities between Wright County Road 8 and Highway 25 is now closed to cars and commercial vehicles as crews resurface the entrance and exit ramps, and update nearby sidewalks.
According to KNSI, the full closure is just the first phase of the project. The rest area will reopen to passenger vehicles only the week of May 11th. During that time, the truck parking area will remain closed as crews repave the lot.
The truck parking lot will reopen the week of June 30th, right around Independence Day. During that time, the passenger vehicle area will be shut down to allow for the resurfacing of the lot. The Minnesota DOT expects the rest area to be fully open by late July. The entire project is expected to cost $2.9 million.
Drivers heading east on I-94 are encouraged to use the Big Spunk Lake rest area near Avon, or to drive a little farther out to the Elm Creek rest area.
Could a UCLA baseball team that’s perfect in Big Ten play get better?
Bruins coach John Savage thinks so, which is a frightening prospect for the rest of a seemingly overmatched conference.
While Savage’s top-ranked Bruins completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota on Sunday with a 5-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium — stretching their Big Ten winning streak to 21 games — he said there’s more upside to be realized.
“Offensively, we just really couldn’t get a lot going,” Savage said after his team went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six baserunners. “We just weren’t able to put a lot together, but when that pitching and defense shows up every day, it gives yourself a chance to win, and that’s kind of what we did all three games, really.”
Those elements were so good Sunday that they overshadowed Roman Martin’s solo homer in the third inning and Will Gasparino’s two-run shot in the sixth.
Bruins left fielder Dean West made three superb catches — two leaping and one diving — and four relievers combined to give up only one run in 4 ⅔ innings. Closer Easton Hawk needed only six pitches to record a 1-2-3 ninth inning while notching his third save in as many days.
Savage credited Minnesota’s pitching after the Golden Gophers (22-17 overall, 5-13 Big Ten) held the Bruins (36-3) to an average of five runs during the series and said many of his team’s offensive struggles were situational.
“We have very, very good offensive players — some of them are in … little ruts right now, but that’s OK,” Savage said. “These guys play a lot and get a lot of at-bats; there’s a lot of ups and downs.”
When it comes to UCLA’s conference record, it’s all been up.
What it means
UCLA’s sweep is further evidence that the Bruins aren’t getting complacent because of their record.
“This culture is really solid, and these guys truly believe in one another and they’re playing for the team,” Savage said. “We’re very fortunate to have this group, and so they love playing together, so there’s no complacency and there’s no reason to because we haven’t done anything; I mean, you’re 36-3, that’s great, but at the end of the day it’s about getting better and playing your best baseball the next 75 days.”
Turning point
Spotting a dominant team an early lead is never a good idea.
That’s what happened when the Bruins struck for two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
West led off with a single to center field, took third on Roch Cholowsky’s double to left and scored on a balk. With one out, Martin hit an RBI infield single off the pitcher’s glove. UCLA was up 2-0, and the Golden Gophers could never catch up.
Did you see that?
Minnesota did not like it when Gasparino admired his home run by lingering in the batter’s box before commencing his trot around the bases.
There was consensus in both dugouts because Savage also didn’t care for it.
“I thought he probably stayed in the box a little too long for me,” Savage said. “That’s kind of not who we are, and they didn’t like that; I wouldn’t like that either, really.”
MVP
West saved multiple extra-base hits with his catches.
Which was his favorite?
“Probably the diving one,” West said. “I think that was the coolest one. I got to leave my feet and make a play on it.”
Up next
The Bruins will open a five-game stretch of nonconference games when they host Hawaii on Tuesday evening at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Of the many terrible roster decisions Minnesota sports teams have made over the past 30 years, the worst of the bunch may have been trading Randy Moss to the Raiders for the No. 7 pick in the draft and linebacker Napoleon Harris.
Why are we bringing up a trade that happened 21 years ago? Because the New York Giants traded defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick in this week’s NFL Draft. It was the first time a non-quarterback has been traded for a top-10 pick since the infamous Moss trade in 2005.
Minnesota traded Moss for the Raiders’ first-round pick, Harris, and a seventh-round pick on March 2, 2005. The Vikings used the No. 7 pick on wide receiver Troy Williamson, who never panned out in the NFL. He had 24 catches for 372 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, 37 receptions for 457 yards and zero touchdowns in 2006, and just 18 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown in 2007.
Williams led the league with 11 dropped passes in 2006. Minnesota traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick after the 2007 season, where he played in 10 games over two seasons and totaled just eight catches for 64 yards. He was cut before the start of the 2010 season, and that was a wrap on the former South Carolina speedster’s NFL career.
Moss didn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers with the Raiders for two seasons, but he set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches in 2007 with the New England Patriots. He caught 47 touchdowns in 48 regular-season games with the Patriots from 2007 to 2009.
Whether it was trading Moss to the Raiders, the Timberwolves sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics — or drafting Ricky Rubio AND Johnny Flynn over Steph Curry — or the Twins cutting David Ortiz and watching him become one of the greatest players in MLB history with the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota sports teams have a long history of making terrible decisions.
The Bengals, meanwhile, gave up the 10th overall pick for one of the best defensive tackles in the league. They’ll likely get great production from Lawrence, while the Giants are now under pressure to get the 10th pick right. New York also holds the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s first round of the draft.
By the way, the Vikings had two picks in the first round of the 2005 draft. After taking Williamson, they used the No. 18 pick on defensive end Erasmus James. He was just as much of a bust as Williams, playing in 23 games in three years with the Vikings. He had four sacks as a rookie, but injuries wiped out most of his 2006 and 2007 seasons before he was traded to Washington for a conditional seventh-round pick.
James was cut by Washington in December 2009, marking the end of his NFL career.
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