Nicole DeFeudis https://endpts.com/
Editor

While net prices for Janssen’s commercial drugs have declined for the sixth consecutive year, out-of-pocket costs have continued to rise for some patients, according to the company’s latest US Pricing Transparency Report.

The company provided $39 billion last year in the form of rebates, discounts and fees to commercial health insurers, pharmacy benefit managers and other intermediaries, it said in the report — a more than $5 billion increase compared to 2021. A majority of that, or $11.2 billion, went to commercial payers and PBMs, while 16% (or $6.2 billion) went to the 340B program, 13% ($5.1 billion) went to Medicare and 10% ($3.8 billion) to Medicaid.

In 2021, Janssen provided $6.4 billion to the 340B program, $4.6 billion to Medicare and $3.4 billion to Medicaid.

“Unfortunately, the reality for millions of patients is growing affordability and health equity gaps caused by underinsurance and inadequate insurance benefit design driven by middlemen, including pharmacy benefit managers,” Janssen wrote in its report.

The news comes as PBM reforms move through both the House and Senate, and legislators continue to call for increased transparency around drug pricing. The Biden administration proposed a new rule on Tuesday that would give the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and states tools to help verify drug prices, increase transparency and help states negotiate what they pay for high-cost drugs.

Janssen launched its US Pricing Transparency Report in 2016 to “provide policymakers and patients with useful information about what drives the cost of healthcare, including the cost of prescription medicines,” the company said.

In its latest report, Janssen cited President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as one of its key concerns, which was signed into law last summer and allows Medicare to negotiate prices for certain high-cost drugs, among other provisions. A slate of pharma companies have claimed the legislation will stymie innovation, with Janssen adding in its latest report that it “threatens to harm the future development of innovative medicines, improvements in existing treatments and patients’ access to these treatments.”

“At a time when the nation is on the cusp of transformative innovation to tackle so many unmet healthcare needs, the IRA’s drug pricing policies are the exact opposite of what patients need and deserve,” Janssen wrote.