Colorado
Colorado moves to cap price of arthritis drug Enbrel in first-in-the-nation action by state affordability board
A Colorado board voted to move forward with setting a price ceiling on the arthritis drug Enbrel on Friday, a first-in-the-nation step that raises questions about whether a single state can reduce drug costs without unintended consequences.
Colorado would be the first to set a price ceiling on any drug, meaning the state can’t look to others for clues to how drugmakers and other players will respond. Opponents of the process say patients could lose access to drugs under a price ceiling, while supporters say drugmakers can’t easily cut states out of their distribution chains and still make money.
The vote by the Prescription Drug Affordability Board kicks off a six-month process to determine what price would be appropriate for Enbrel. The board also has the option to ultimately vote against a price ceiling at the end of the process.
The move by the state board is different than the Colorado legislature’s limits on how much customers pay out-of-pocket for insulin or EpiPens, as an Enbrel price ceiling would also apply to how much pharmacies pay to stock the drug.
The board previously had determined the drug cost about $46,000 for one patient to take it for one year in 2022, with patients responsible for an average of $2,295 in Colorado if they have commercial insurance or Medicare Advantage. Some patients pay less because they qualify for assistance programs to cover their out-of-pocket costs.
The vote came one day after a state Senate committee voted to advance a bill that would remove all medications that have an “orphan drug” designation from the board’s list to consider in future years. The orphan status means a drug is approved for a rare condition, meaning it may not be profitable for drugmakers to develop such treatments.
The Colorado Consumer Health Initiative estimated that about 400 of the 600 drugs that the board identified as possibilities for review have orphan drug status for at least one condition.
Enbrel, which is approved for six conditions, has an orphan drug designation for one of them, polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis.
Friday’s meeting capped a months-long process of reviewing data about how much Enbrel costs, and how much patients typically pay.
Drugmaker Amgen and some patient groups criticized the board’s reliance on a survey that garnered responses from only 38 patients in Colorado to determine that the drug isn’t broadly affordable. Eight of those respondents said they went into debt because of their drug costs, 20 said they had to cut back on other expenses and nine said they sometimes stretched their doses to save money.
The board previously voted that the cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta and the HIV antiviral Genvoya both are affordable to patients because of assistance programs from drug manufacturers or the federal government. Neither drug will be subject to a price ceiling.
Cosentyx and Stelara, which both treat conditions where the body attacks its own tissues, will undergo affordability reviews later this year. The board’s charge is to determine if drugs are affordable to patients, not to the system as a whole.
Earlier in the review process, some trade groups had raised concerns about implementing a maximum price.
The Colorado Hospital Association said it worried that its members could be reimbursed less than the cost of drugs they buy if the board set upper payment limits. In a comment sent last year, the association said some of its members are part of multi-state purchasing groups, so they wouldn’t necessarily be able to buy drugs below the price ceiling, but insurance would still reimburse them at the rate the state set.
The Colorado Pharmacists Society also sent a comment with concerns that its members wouldn’t be able to recoup the costs of stocking drugs that require more complicated handling, while the Colorado Association of Health Plans said insurers might not be able to change their formularies to bring patients’ out-of-pocket costs down to whatever level the board sets.
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Colorado
Colorado mother says Lakewood crash killed son, left 2 of her children critically injured as driver is arrested
A mother is grieving after a crash in the Denver metro area last weekend left her son brain-dead and two of her other children fighting for their lives.
Lakewood police say 22-year-old Andrew Logan Miller has been arrested in connection with the crash, which happened Dec. 6 around 7:30 p.m. near Kipling Parkway and West 6th Avenue.
Police say Miller was driving an SUV southbound on Kipling Parkway at a high rate of speed when it collided with a bus carrying a wrestling team from Central High School, which is located in Grand Junction in Mesa County.
Sixteen people were taken to hospitals.
Among the injured were three siblings who were riding inside the SUV.
On Friday, their mother, Suleyma Gonzalez, identified them as Julio Gonzalez, 18, Analelly Gonzalez, 17, and Christopher Gonzalez, 14.
Analelly and Christopher remain in critical condition. Julio will never wake up.
“I didn’t want to believe it, until they had to do the second testing where they didn’t find blood going through his brain,” she said. “My other two are in comas.”
Gonzalez said doctors ultimately declared Julio brain-dead.
She describes her children as disciplined students and ROTC members with plans for the future.
“Two of my kids were going to graduate this year,” she said. “No drugs. No alcohol. They were good kids.”
Gonzalez confirmed that Miller, who was driving the SUV at the time of the crash, was her daughter’s boyfriend.
“I know he loved my daughter,” she said. “I don’t think he did this on purpose or intentionally. It was an accident.”
Police say the investigation is ongoing, but believe speed played a major role in the crash.
Miller was arrested Wednesday night and is facing multiple charges, including:
• Vehicular assault (7 counts)
• Speeding 40 mph or more over the limit
• Reckless driving
• Child abuse (2 counts)
• Reckless endangerment
“My kids know when you get in somebody’s car, there’s always a risk. Always,” she said.
Julio’s organs will be donated. He’s on life support, while the hospital searches for matches.
“He wanted to give to the world,” she said. “Now that I can’t get him back, we want to give life to somebody else.”
Miller is currently being held in the Denver County Jail and is awaiting transfer to the Jefferson County Jail. His bond and court appearance have not yet been announced.
Lakewood police say the investigation remains active.
Gonzalez, a single mother of five, says her focus now is on her surviving children and getting clarity.
“I just want answers.”
DENVER, Colo. (KKTV) – The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Thursday a lawsuit against the Colorado Secretary of State for failure to produce state voter information.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold claims the DOJ sent a “broad” request for the voter registration rolls on May 12.
Griswold says her office complied with the request and “shared the publicly available data consistent with applicable law.” However, the lawsuit against Griswold says that her office did not respond to the letter.
Griswold sent a letter in November signed by several Secretaries of State to the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requesting clarification on how the data would be used, but she claims neither replied to the questions in the letter.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that DOJ attorney Eric Neff followed up by emailing Secretary Griswold on Dec. 1, requesting Colorado’s Statewide Voter Registration list.
Griswold said this request asked the office to share unredacted voter data, including a voter’s full name, date of birth, residential address, and complete state driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Griswold responded by email on Dec. 3, stating, “We received your request. We will not be producing unredacted voter files or signing the MOU,” the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit cites the Civil Rights Act, which gives the United States Attorney General the power to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.
The DOJ is requesting a judge to declare that Griswold violated the Civil Rights Act and to order her to provide the current electronic copy of Colorado’s statewide voter registration list.
Griswold’s office released the following statement:
The DOJ released the following statement regarding the lawsuit:
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