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Most people who work in health-care policy agree that rising prescription drug prices pose a serious threat to efforts to make health care affordable. Prescription drug prices account for 17 percent of the nation’s health-care costs, up from 7 percent in the 1990s. According to data from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, prescription drug spending accounts for nearly 20 percent of total program spending for Medicare, the largest of the governmental health-care programs. With backing from powerful lobbying organizations, the brand-name pharmaceutical companies avoided price controls. (William B. Schultz, 8/4)

The Dispatch strongly opposes Issue 2, a simplistic ballot measure to impose an unworkable cap on what the state can pay for prescription drugs, but the campaign to defeat the issue took a wrong turn by hiding the identity of its financial backers. They did so by taking advantage of permissive federal and state laws that allow deep pockets to heavily influence elections from behind a curtain of anonymity. (8/8)

Republicans not only hold the White House, but both chambers of Congress as well, thanks in no small part to rural voters. If they want to hold on to that power into 2018 and beyond, they’d be wise not to ignore the base that gave it to them. Republicans promised these voters time and again that they would take on big pharma and work to take on high drug prices but now, given the chance, they’re wavering. (Amelia Hamilton, 8/3)

Years ago, when my daughter was in the first stages of treatment for a brain tumor (thankfully not a glioblastoma), I went with her to the pharmacy to get 11 pills that were part of a partially filled prescription she had received earlier. When the pharmacist returned with the medication, I asked, out of curiosity, how much they’d cost if not covered by insurance. He looked up at the line behind us and said very quietly, $7,000. I gasped but not as audibly as the woman who was next up. “For 11 pills? Did I hear that correctly?” “Welcome to the world of modern medicine,” the druggist said. (Thomasson, 8/8)

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. on Tuesday cut its revenue guidance for 2017. It reported an 8 percent drop in revenue in the second quarter from a year ago, with declines in nearly all lines of business. It divested its second-best-selling drug as part of its effort to chip away at more than $28 billion in debt. More divestitures are set to close in the second half of the year. The company posted its sixth GAAP loss in seven quarters. (Max Nisen, 8/8)

Pharma already leads the business world in unpredictability, with billions in sales potentially riding on a few points of statistical significance in a clinical trial. But even within that context, a series of blockbuster medicines for Hepatitis C (HCV) have made for a roller-coaster ride for companies and investors. AbbVie Inc. last week threw another big curve at this market by pricing its newly FDA-approved drug Mavyret -- which might be the most effective HCV medicine approved yet -- at a massive discount. (Max Nisen, 8/7)

Shire PLC's ADHD business has been at its core for years and helped it afford last year's transformative, $35 billion dollar purchase of Baxalta Inc. As thanks, Shire on Thursday announced, along with its second-quarter results, that it will decide whether to spin off or sell its ADHD business by the end of this year. The firm thinks it has two very different businesses, which "could be better off managed separately," according to CEO Flemming Ornskov on the firm's earnings call. (Max Nisen, 8/3)