tci Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement - 2003 Issue 24

Pharmaceuticals: WYDEN: NIH IGNORED PATIENT, TAXPAYER COSTS FOR TAXOL

The National Institutes of Health had the authority to get a better deal for taxpayers and patients when it negotiated rights for the cancer drug Taxol, whose development relied heavily on NIH research. But the agency didn't use its clout to full advantage. That's the finding of a General Accounting Office analysis released by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) June 6. NIH's agreement allowing Bristol-Myers Squibb to patent the drug netted only $35 million in royalties for the government and failed to ensure that federally insured patients, particularly in Medicare, could buy it for affordable prices, even though the government...

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