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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (Iowa) on Wednesday accused Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) of blocking progress on his bill to lower drug prices, escalating tensions between two powerful GOP senators. Asked why more Republican senators have not signed on to his bill to lower drug prices, Grassley told reporters, “Because McConnell’s asked them not to.” (Sullivan, 12/18)

The remarks are especially surprising from Grassley, one of the Senate’s highest-ranking Republicans. He told reporters at a briefing that his package has not gotten more Republican support “because McConnell has asked them not to [support it].” Visibly exasperated, Grassley even accused McConnell of opposing the Trump administration — although he insisted he is “not frustrated.” “The president wants it,” Grassley said, his voice rising. “Senate majority leaders, historically, if you’ve got the president of the same party, they tend to be spokesmen for the administration, not against the administration.” (Florko, 12/18)

Experts have known for years that some of these transplants wouldn’t provide full immune protection over the course of a SCID [severe combined immunodeficiency] patient’s entire life. They say clinicians should have avoided the word “cure.” But even scientific papers that hinted at such complications called the treatment “curative.” Just this year, an Immune Deficiency Foundation employee was given the unenviable task of sifting through the organization’s thousands of pages of online material, scrubbing out every “cure” that popped up. It was only there a handful of times — sometimes in quotes from clinicians, Boyle said — but it was there and it needed to be removed. (Boodman, 12/19)

CVS Health and Rite Aid joined other pharmacy chains Monday in a lawsuit accusing three drugmakers of squeezing out generic competitors to protect their sales of a diabetes medication, resulting in $2.8 billion in excessive spending. The lawsuit details a series of events that allegedly impeded competitors via notorious "patent games" that policymakers aim to ban. The pharmacy chains allege Assertio Therapeutics paid Lupin Pharmaceuticals to delay its generic version of Glumetza, the extended-release iteration of a drug that has been used to treat Type 2 diabetes since 2002. While Lupin's generic could have entered the market in 2009, the companies settled a related patent lawsuit and kept the competition at bay until 2016. (Kacik, 12/18)

The first public meeting of a working group on insulin accessibility showed little progress Wednesday as Minnesota lawmakers remained at odds over how to operate and pay for an emergency program to help diabetics secure the lifesaving drug. Republicans and Democrats, who have been meeting over the past two months, both want patients who are having a crisis to immediately get insulin they can afford. They also want to connect people with long-term health care coverage to prevent future emergencies for those dealing with the skyrocketing cost of insulin. (Van Berkel, 12/18)