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There is no shortage of good intentions and even better ideas on how to bring sanity to the overwhelming complexity of rising drug prices — and doing so without blocking the pipeline of life-saving new drugs. None of those ideas, however worthy, are likely to make any headway in gridlocked Washington today. So it rests with the states to fix that which can be fixed. Massachusetts Senate leaders introduced their entry into the debate last week, teeing up the Pharmaceutical Access, Cost and Transparency Act for floor debate Thursday. (11/11)

Congressional leaders like Sens. Chuck Grassley, Kevin Cramer, and others are advancing critically important work to address prescription drug pricing. However, we would like to take the opportunity to clarify some misconceptions. Pharmacy benefit managers are an integral part of the solution to high prices, working on behalf of hundreds of millions of consumers to make treatments more accessible and affordable, and supporting policies to lower costs and improve patient care. (J.C. Scott, 11/8)

At nearly every major industry conference — from HLTH to CNS Summit, Exponential Medicine, and Rock Health Summit — speakers are talking about the benefits of decentralized clinical trials and digital endpoints. We are quite excited about the latter. For a new drug to be approved, the manufacturer must provide the FDA with substantial evidence that it has a clinically meaningful effect on patients. It does this by providing data on endpoints, like survival or a substantial reduction in a biomarker like LDL cholesterol or hemoglobin A1c. Digital endpoints are the newest type of endpoint. They are assessed using data captured by a sensor, typically outside of the clinic during activities of daily living. (Jen Goldsack, Rachel A. Chasse, and William A. Wood, 11/6)

Artificial intelligence has become a crucial part of our technological infrastructure and the brain underlying many consumer devices. In less than a decade, machine learning algorithms based on deep neural networks evolved from recognizing cats in videos to enabling your smartphone to perform real-time translation between 27 different languages. This progress has sparked the use of AI in drug discovery and development. Artificial intelligence can improve efficiency and outcomes in drug development across therapeutic areas. (Charles K. Fisher, 11/7)

Americans are worried about drug prices. To address these concerns, lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have introduced measures to restructure Medicare’s drug benefit. While it’s great to see both parties working together, this approach — which would enable government officials to set drug prices — is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Their efforts ultimately threaten small and midsize biotech firms that develop important medical innovations. And the cures of tomorrow may be put out of reach for millions of patients as a result. (Sandip Shah, 11/7)

It’s time to lower prescription drug costs in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program is paying billions more than it should for prescription drugs, due to the growing influence  of pharmacy benefit managers. Designed to save Medicaid dollars, these benefit managers have seen their payments from the commonwealth increase by more than $1 billion in only four years to $2.84 billion. These exorbitant profits are increasing prescription drug costs at community pharmacies for countless Pennsylvanians. (Patricia Epple, 11/13)

Ground-breaking research on the microbiome — the collection of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that live in the gut, on the skin, and within other human tissues — is creating new ways to treat disease. What started as a “bugs as drugs” approach to treatment is expanding to embrace the use of small molecules, biologics, phages, and engineered bacteria to modify the microbiome and prevent or alter disease progression. (Peter Bak, 11/13)