COVID-19 PHE expires: Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said that the end of the COVID-19 PHE is not an “end to the pandemic or fighting COVID,” adding that while the country is better prepared to manage the pandemic, there is still more work that needs to be done. Separately, Jha told reporters that the congressionally mandated Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy would not be established in time for the end of the PHE, and he deflected questions about his future with the administration.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to limit the tracking of COVID-19 data — particularly community-level transmissions — will cut off a vital public health information tool, with one expert arguing that it will make it harder for the United States to understand new outbreaks and force people to “make a lot of assumptions.”
Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration extended for six months pandemic-era policies that allow doctors to prescribe certain medications via telehealth, including prescriptions for Adderall, oxycodone and buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder. The extension, which now goes through Nov. 11, gives the agency time to review tens of thousands of complaints for its proposal to reinstate stricter policies requiring in-person visits.
Congress watch: A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill that would create a COVID-19 task force — modeled after the 9/11 Commission — to investigate the U.S. response to the pandemic and what caused the global crisis. The bill, led by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), would establish a 10-person task force equally selected by both parties and require the group, which would have subpoena power, to issue an interim report within one year.
The Senate HELP Committee passed a slate of health bills aimed at boosting competition for generic drugs and increasing scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers, though the committee did not pass as strict of PBM legislation as some may have hoped. The PBM legislation passed would ban spread pricing, where the groups charge insurers more for drugs than they pay pharmacies, and require the drug middlemen to disclose rebates, fees and payments they receive and pass them on to the insurers with whom they negotiate.
The committee passed the legislation the day after a hearing on insulin costs with the top insulin manufacturers and leading pharmacy benefit managers that forced high-profile drug chief executives to testify before Congress, but offered the same arguments and questions the companies and senators have used for years and little clarity on how to lower costs.
OTC birth control: An expert adviser panel to the FDA unanimously recommended that the agency allow people to get the birth control medication Opill without a prescription, potentially setting up the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill to be offered on the U.S. market. The panel said that the benefits of Opill, which is made by Perrigo Co.’s HRA Pharma, outweigh the risks of people improperly using the medication.
Drug shortages: The Biden administration has assembled a secret team to investigate and address the country’s ongoing drug shortage problem as shortages hit a five-year high, according to several people familiar with the matter. Susan Rice, the White House’s top domestic policy adviser who will leave the role later this month, has asked the group to finalize proposals and strategies for the federal government to implement by early spring, according to one source.
