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President Donald Trump is off the mark in taking credit for a drop in drug prices that he calls unprecedented in half a century. TRUMP: “Our ambitious campaign to reduce the price of prescription drugs has produced the largest decline in drug prices in more than 51 years.” — remarks at North Carolina rally Monday night. THE FACTS: He’s exaggerating his influence on drug prices, which haven’t fallen for brand-name drugs, the area that worries consumers the most. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/10)

The sprawling trade association for companies making everything from weed killer to CAR-T cancer therapies, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, has new leadership. But it’s still not apologizing for the toxic reputation many of its member companies have on Capitol Hill, and in the minds of Americans, more generally. BIO elected Dr. Jeremy Levin, CEO of Ovid Therapeutics (OVID), to be its new board chair in June. (Florko, 9/10)

The experimental lung cancer drug that led Eli Lilly to spend $8 billion on a smaller biotechnology firm, Loxo Oncology, delivered impressive results Monday in a study being presented at a conference in Barcelona. A total of 68% of 105 patients — all of whom had been previously failed by chemotherapy — saw a response after taking selpercatinib, previously known as LOXO-292, meaning that their tumors decreased in size by at least 30%. (Herper, 9/9)

Over the past few years, excitement over a coming wave of potentially curative gene therapies has given way to concern over their million-dollar price tags. Paying over a period of time and for good outcomes have been mulled as strategies to help more patients get access to the drugs, but there's been slow adoption. Last week, insurer Cigna Corp. introduced a program designed to "take away all the excuses by which anyone would not want to participate." (Livingston, 9/6)

At first, it sounded like a breakup. “It’s not working, and it won’t work in the future,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s top drug regulator. She was speaking to an audience of about 150 researchers who are toiling to discover new medicines that will save lives. The room was silent. “I don’t want to bum everyone out,” she said. “The science is fabulous, but that’s not enough.” (Baumgaertner, 9/7)

Enter the online retail drug discount company GoodRx, which launched in 2011 as a way to show consumers how to get their prescriptions filled at the lowest price. The company reports that 100 million people have used the service to find the cost of medicines at local pharmacies. The service, which is mainly intended for people without health insurance, is one of many drug discount programs available. Thomas Goetz, director of research at GoodRx, said that what the Santa Monica, California-based company offers is transparency in a broken market. “When that transparency is in the hands of consumers, consumers start to change behavior,” said Goetz. “And that starts to change the economics of the system. It’s very slow-going, but that’s in general what we’re all about.” (Young, 9/9)

pecialty drugs are typically used to treat such complex conditions as hepatitis, cystic fibrosis, HIV and some cancers. Sometimes they require special handling, such as refrigeration.So why the big price changes on New Year’s Day? Critics provide a simple explanation: New restrictions by the state Medicaid department starting Jan. 1 spurred pharmacy benefit managers to find a new way to make money. And specialty drugs were the ticket. (Rowland, 9/8)

Kaiser Health News: States Pass Record Number Of Laws To Reel In Drug Prices

Whether Congress will act this year to address the affordability of prescription drugs — a high priority among voters — remains uncertain. But states aren’t waiting. So far this year, 33 states have enacted a record 51 laws to address drug prices, affordability and access. That tops the previous record of 45 laws enacted in 28 states set just last year, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy, a nonprofit advocacy group that develops model legislation and promotes such laws. (Findlay, 9/9)

Swiss drugmaker Roche sees medicines in its own pipeline driving sales growth over the longer term, Chief Executive Severin Schwan told Reuters on Friday, adding he will not pursue takeovers simply to keep revenue rising. In an interview at Roche's Basel headquarters, Schwan also said ongoing U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) scrutiny of Roche's $4.3 billion takeover of Spark Therapeutics came as a surprise, forcing delays. (Miller and Arnold, 9/6)

Reflecting an intensifying effort to conquer cancer, the portion of new oncology treatments approved by the Food and Drug Administration swelled over the past decade, reaching 27% of all drug approvals compared with just 4% during the 1980s, according to a new analysis. Between 2010 and 2018, FDA approvals for cancer therapies outstripped endorsements for antibiotics and drugs used to treat central nervous system disorders and cardiovascular ills, all of which are also major therapeutic categories. (Silverman, 9/5)