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As a sort of sour welcome for the Biden administration and a final slap in the face for Donald Trump, America’s drug companies jacked up prices on hundreds of prescription drugs, including some of their top sellers, at the very start of this year. Market analysts say the median price hike was 4.8%, a tad below last year’s level, but once you’ve said that you’ve said everything. The increase levied by AbbVie on its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira, the best-selling drug in the world, was 7.4%. AbbVie collects revenue of about $20 billion a year from Humira, though its patent exclusivity on the drug expires in 2023. Pfizer’s increase on its statin Lipitor was 4.9%. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/19)

The Trump administration’s efforts to increase drug price transparency are likely to survive the transition to the Biden administration, according to a perspective piece published 13 January in the New England Journal of Medicine. Included in the Transparency in Coverage final rule, issued in late October 2020, the drug price transparency provisions aim to require that health insurers publish list prices and historical net prices for prescription drugs. The information must be supplied so that patients and providers can access it both online or in paper format, and in real time. (Denise Fulton, 1/18)

Since the November elections, investors have been focused on President-elect Biden’s efforts to bolster the U.S. economy, including the latest $1.9 trillion plan. But investors should not lose sight of potential regulatory changes that could unwind much of the deregulation that occurred in the Trump era. Three areas – the environment, health care and tech giants – are among those likely to be most affected. It is easy to overlook the impact of regulations on the economy because they are inherently difficult to quantify. Federal agencies are only required to conduct cost-benefit analyses on rules deemed “economically significant,” which are defined as having an annual effect on the economy of at least $100 million. (Nicholas Sargen, 1/18)

Amid a global pandemic, you have a choice: Pay for your lifesaving prescription medication or put food on your family’s table. Which do you choose? This is the harsh reality in the commonwealth, where nearly 1 in 4 Virginians stops taking prescriptions as directed because they can’t afford them. That is unconscionable, and it’s the clear consequence of a broken, predatory drug-pricing system that puts profits first. If elected Virginia’s next governor, I will fight to ensure no Virginian is faced with this choice. (Terry McAuliffe, 1/14)