Brian Reid
@brianreid.bsky.social
I have a newsletter. It's called Cost Curve. I write a lot about dull things like 340B reform and benefit design and the Value Flower.
You can probably Google it.
You can probably Google it.
Headline writers were kind of phoning it in yesterday. #takeaways
May 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Headline writers were kind of phoning it in yesterday. #takeaways
The @washingtonpost.com eddy board has a wildly pro-pharma editorial today.
Good to see innovation recognized.
wapo.st/4k4Pkx2
Good to see innovation recognized.
wapo.st/4k4Pkx2
May 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
The @washingtonpost.com eddy board has a wildly pro-pharma editorial today.
Good to see innovation recognized.
wapo.st/4k4Pkx2
Good to see innovation recognized.
wapo.st/4k4Pkx2
@matt-levine.bsky.social nails how I think about video.
Like, I don't get the fascination, but it's hard not to see there is demand.
So yes, more dumb LinkedIn videos coming.
Like, I don't get the fascination, but it's hard not to see there is demand.
So yes, more dumb LinkedIn videos coming.
May 20, 2025 at 6:42 PM
@matt-levine.bsky.social nails how I think about video.
Like, I don't get the fascination, but it's hard not to see there is demand.
So yes, more dumb LinkedIn videos coming.
Like, I don't get the fascination, but it's hard not to see there is demand.
So yes, more dumb LinkedIn videos coming.
Reposted by Brian Reid
“This has the feel of a Truth Social post in the form of an executive order.”
Big pop @brianreid.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...
Big pop @brianreid.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...
Our biggest burning questions on Trump’s order to bring down drug prices
Trump's executive order lacks specifics and raises questions on what can be accomplished, what will be challenged in court.
www.statnews.com
May 15, 2025 at 9:47 AM
“This has the feel of a Truth Social post in the form of an executive order.”
Big pop @brianreid.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...
Big pop @brianreid.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/pharmalot/20...
Is the CMS drug negotiation page down for anyone else?
May 12, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Is the CMS drug negotiation page down for anyone else?
Props to the Bloomberg photo-captions person.
April 22, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Props to the Bloomberg photo-captions person.
Reposted by Brian Reid
Thanks to all my wonderful Tufts-CEVR colleagues for putting on another great annual meeting! Proud to work with you!
@dano-hta.bsky.social @brianreid.bsky.social @tuftscevr.bsky.social @mollytoba.bsky.social
@dano-hta.bsky.social @brianreid.bsky.social @tuftscevr.bsky.social @mollytoba.bsky.social
April 19, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Thanks to all my wonderful Tufts-CEVR colleagues for putting on another great annual meeting! Proud to work with you!
@dano-hta.bsky.social @brianreid.bsky.social @tuftscevr.bsky.social @mollytoba.bsky.social
@dano-hta.bsky.social @brianreid.bsky.social @tuftscevr.bsky.social @mollytoba.bsky.social
Reposted by Brian Reid
In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su
April 17, 2025 at 3:19 PM
In terminating hundreds of NIH grants, the Trump administration dumped years of investment down the drain. In my latest @opinion.bloomberg.com column, we analyzed the cancelled projects & talked to scientists to understand just how much the public loses out. It's a lot: tinyurl.com/bdey86su
Reposted by Brian Reid
@endpts.com got ahold of the HHS restructuring document. My angle this morning: endpts.com/cms-would-ab...
CMS would absorb 340B drug discount program under leaked HHS reorganization proposal
The 340B drug discount program may move under the purview of CMS, according to a leaked HHS restructuring document reviewed by Endpoints News.
endpts.com
April 17, 2025 at 4:41 PM
@endpts.com got ahold of the HHS restructuring document. My angle this morning: endpts.com/cms-would-ab...
Man, there was a lot packed into yesterday's executive order on drug pricing. Here's my effort to get my brain around all of the moving pieces:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/10-thought...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/10-thought...
10 Thoughts on Trump’s Drug-Pricing Executive Order
I really thought today might be an easy day. I should have known better.
costcurve.beehiiv.com
April 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Man, there was a lot packed into yesterday's executive order on drug pricing. Here's my effort to get my brain around all of the moving pieces:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/10-thought...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/10-thought...
Reposted by Brian Reid
There’s a lot in this Trump package of drug pricing executive orders, but perhaps what’s most interesting is what’s not in them:
No signs of life for ending the safe harbor to anti-kickback laws for drugmaker rebates.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
No signs of life for ending the safe harbor to anti-kickback laws for drugmaker rebates.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose.
www.whitehouse.gov
April 16, 2025 at 1:33 AM
There’s a lot in this Trump package of drug pricing executive orders, but perhaps what’s most interesting is what’s not in them:
No signs of life for ending the safe harbor to anti-kickback laws for drugmaker rebates.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
No signs of life for ending the safe harbor to anti-kickback laws for drugmaker rebates.
www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Brian Reid
FDA’s ‘key man’ Peter Marks is out. Biotech investors will now deal with the consequences www.statnews.com/2025/03/30/f...
FDA’s ‘key man’ Peter Marks is out. Biotech investors will now deal with the consequences
Peter Marks’ ouster comes at a time when the sector is already suffering through a years-long public markets slump.
www.statnews.com
March 30, 2025 at 4:59 PM
FDA’s ‘key man’ Peter Marks is out. Biotech investors will now deal with the consequences www.statnews.com/2025/03/30/f...
Not good.
Breaking: The FDA's top vaccine official was pushed out and resigned today from the agency, @lizessleywhyte.bsky.social reports
Exclusive | Top Vaccine Official Out at FDA
In his resignation letter, Dr. Peter Marks cited ‘misinformation and lies’ from Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.
www.wsj.com
March 29, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Not good.
Reposted by Brian Reid
Reading this Paragon report on Medicaid provider taxes, and I have a lot of questions about the art! paragoninstitute.org/medicaid/add...
March 26, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reading this Paragon report on Medicaid provider taxes, and I have a lot of questions about the art! paragoninstitute.org/medicaid/add...
This is what happens when a $60B+ program has no oversight.
Is there anyone involved in #340B that can justify this kind of arrangement?
Is there anyone involved in #340B that can justify this kind of arrangement?
A new breed of drug middlemen are pushing an unusual cost-saving strategy that lets employer clients tap the 340B federal program meant for hospitals that serve the poor
How Some Startups Are Helping Employers Get Big Drug Discounts
New drug middlemen help employers tap a federal prescription-discount program meant for hospitals that serve the poor
www.wsj.com
March 15, 2025 at 5:31 PM
This is what happens when a $60B+ program has no oversight.
Is there anyone involved in #340B that can justify this kind of arrangement?
Is there anyone involved in #340B that can justify this kind of arrangement?
Reposted by Brian Reid
This is an absolutely incredible story - read it. Its so hard to convey what jobs that look like sitting behind a computer are actually *for*. This is what the FDA is for, and why we all need it, desperately. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
Opinion | The free-living bureaucrat
Michael Lewis on Heather Stone of the Food and Drug Administration.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
This is an absolutely incredible story - read it. Its so hard to convey what jobs that look like sitting behind a computer are actually *for*. This is what the FDA is for, and why we all need it, desperately. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/int...
@maya-goldman.bsky.social with a scoop on the fate of a bunch of CMMI projects. Two as-yet-unlaunched drug-price demos got the axe.
Probably not a surprise, but clarifying nonetheless.
www.axios.com/2025/03/12/m...
Probably not a surprise, but clarifying nonetheless.
www.axios.com/2025/03/12/m...
March 12, 2025 at 9:14 PM
@maya-goldman.bsky.social with a scoop on the fate of a bunch of CMMI projects. Two as-yet-unlaunched drug-price demos got the axe.
Probably not a surprise, but clarifying nonetheless.
www.axios.com/2025/03/12/m...
Probably not a surprise, but clarifying nonetheless.
www.axios.com/2025/03/12/m...
Drug-pricing transparency reports used to be a big deal. Are retreats from Novartis (last year) and Novo Nordisk (this year) changing that?
From today's Cost Curve:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/it-s-drug-...
From today's Cost Curve:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/it-s-drug-...
It’s Drug-Price Transparency Season ... But Disclosures May Be on the Wane
And a J&J lawsuit over biosimilars is the first shot in the war against PBM-backed pseudo-pharma companies
costcurve.beehiiv.com
February 25, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Drug-pricing transparency reports used to be a big deal. Are retreats from Novartis (last year) and Novo Nordisk (this year) changing that?
From today's Cost Curve:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/it-s-drug-...
From today's Cost Curve:
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/it-s-drug-...
Also a national treasure: @matt-levine.bsky.social.
February 24, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Also a national treasure: @matt-levine.bsky.social.
Joel Stein is a treasure. Also: health care is broken.
Joel Stein was surprised to get a $600 medical bill for a test performed a year earlier. He was even more surprised how easy it was to pay a lot less.
Essay | How to Not Pay Your Medical Bills
Actually, that’s easy. This is how I paid a lot less.
www.wsj.com
February 24, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Joel Stein is a treasure. Also: health care is broken.
Most days, I wake up and write a newsletter with, like, five or six items on drug pricing/policy.
Today, 17 different topics caught my eye.
2025 is off to a wild start.
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/there-s-an...
Today, 17 different topics caught my eye.
2025 is off to a wild start.
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/there-s-an...
There's an Abbreviation for Everyone Today: PBM, IRA, 340B, RFK, ICER, NPLB
It's one of those drinking-from-a-firehose days
costcurve.beehiiv.com
February 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Most days, I wake up and write a newsletter with, like, five or six items on drug pricing/policy.
Today, 17 different topics caught my eye.
2025 is off to a wild start.
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/there-s-an...
Today, 17 different topics caught my eye.
2025 is off to a wild start.
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/there-s-an...
Reposted by Brian Reid
I know the world is on fire, but maybe next week will be less chaotic and you would like a little break to talk drug policy? If so, please join me and Laura Tollen at Health Affairs to talk about the next 15 drugs selected for Medicare negotiation!
www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/h...
www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/h...
www.healthaffairs.org
February 6, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I know the world is on fire, but maybe next week will be less chaotic and you would like a little break to talk drug policy? If so, please join me and Laura Tollen at Health Affairs to talk about the next 15 drugs selected for Medicare negotiation!
www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/h...
www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/h...
Heck of a few days on the drug-pricing-and-policy beat. A victory for transparent list prices, a little on tariffs, some Kennedy items, the IRA's impact on pharmacies, and a candidate for headline of the year ...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/will-the-p...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/will-the-p...
Will the Price Disclosure for Vertex's Journavx Set a New Standard for Transparency?
Plus a bit on how tariffs are going to worsen, not improve, the issues with generic meds in the United States. And Kennedy nears the end of the beginning.
costcurve.beehiiv.com
February 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Heck of a few days on the drug-pricing-and-policy beat. A victory for transparent list prices, a little on tariffs, some Kennedy items, the IRA's impact on pharmacies, and a candidate for headline of the year ...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/will-the-p...
costcurve.beehiiv.com/p/will-the-p...
Reposted by Brian Reid
Looks like if PBMs want to get to know intimate details of my life, they will have to get a pair of binoculars and repeatedly drive around the block like a normal person. www.ftc.gov/system/files...
January 29, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Looks like if PBMs want to get to know intimate details of my life, they will have to get a pair of binoculars and repeatedly drive around the block like a normal person. www.ftc.gov/system/files...
Love this. @nikillinit.bsky.social nails the #JPM25 ironies.
January 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Love this. @nikillinit.bsky.social nails the #JPM25 ironies.