The Juicebox Podcast is featured on iTunes!
A huge thank you to Apple Podcasts and iTunes for shining a spotlight on episode #111 of the Juicebox Podcast.
Guest: Actor from 'Baby Daddy' and life-long type 1, Derek Theler...
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Eli Lilly raised prices on 9 drugs last week
Humalog and Humulin (7.8 percent)
Indianapolis drug giant Eli Lilly raised list prices of nine of its medicines last week between 6 and 10 percent, according to data obtained by CNBC.
The increases, taken on May 2, were for drugs including the blood thinner Effient (9.9 percent), the psoriasis drug Taltz (6.9 percent) and the insulins Humalog and Humulin (7.8 percent).
The increases fit a pattern at Lilly and many other drugmakers of single-digit percentage hikes once or twice a year, despite political pressure and intense scrutiny of the practices. Lilly has come under fire for the price of its insulin drugs in particular, leading Senator Bernie Sanders to call for a federal investigation into collusion. Lilly and other insulin makers have denied any such activity.
Lilly confirmed the price increases in an emailed statement to CNBC, and noted the list prices "do not reflect the significant discounts and rebates that we provide to ensure patients have adequate access to our medicines."
"The net price increase that Lilly recognizes is significantly less," spokesman Mark Taylor wrote. "In fact, in 2016, the average discount to list price on our U.S. portfolio rose to 50 percent and net prices rose just 2.4 percent in the U.S."
You can read the entire article on CNBC
Medicare Announces Criteria Covering Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM for All People with Diabetes
March 24, 2017
Medicare Announces Criteria Covering Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM for All People with Diabetes on Intensive Insulin Therapy
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DexCom, Inc. (NASDAQ:DXCM), the leader in continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for people with diabetes, is pleased to announce that the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has published an article clarifying criteria for coverage and coding of the Dexcom G5 Mobile system, the only therapeutic CGM under this CMS classification. People covered by Medicarewho have either Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and intensively manage their insulin will now be able to obtain reimbursement.
"This is a new era and a huge win for people with diabetes on Medicare who can benefit from therapeutic CGM," said Kevin Sayer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dexcom. "This decision supports the emerging consensus that CGM is the standard of care for any patient on intensive insulin therapy, regardless of age."
According to CMS, therapeutic CGM may be covered by Medicare when all of the following criteria are met:
- The beneficiary has diabetes mellitus; and,
- The beneficiary has been using a home blood glucose monitor (BGM) and performing frequent (four or more times a day) BGM testing; and,
- The beneficiary is insulin-treated with multiple daily injections (MDI) of insulin or a continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) pump; and,
- The patient's insulin treatment regimen requires frequent adjustment by the beneficiary on the basis of therapeutic CGM testing results.
In order to be included in this category, the system must be defined as therapeutic CGM, meaning you can make treatment decisions using the device. Dexcom G5 Mobile is the only system approved by the FDA to meet that criteria.
A diabetic boy’s parents ‘didn’t believe in doctors.’
Now they’re guilty of his murder.
from the Washington Post
Alexandru Radita’s first medical crisis began when he was on the verge of turning 3. His parents brought him — thirsty, feverish, vomiting and suffering from abdominal pain — to a hospital in British Columbia in December 2000. Lab tests confirmed that young Alex had Type 1 diabetes.
A doctor spoke to Alex’s mother to explain her son’s diagnosis and how they would need to treat him at home. Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong condition in which a person’s pancreas does not produce enough insulin. People with it need regular blood tests and insulin injections to moderate blood-sugar levels.
According to court documents, “Mrs. Radita . . . made it clear that in her view the diagnosis was incorrect and she would prove that the doctors were wrong.”
The entire article can be found here.
Little Girls are like Snowflakes
Little girls are like snowflakes, no two are exactly the same...
Snow day! It is snowing here as I write this post which is strange because it was sixty-five degrees yesterday afternoon when Arden came home from school and asked me this question.
"Can I have a sleepover tonight if school gets cancelled tomorrow because of snow?".
I thought for a moment and decided that if Arden had friends overnight then they would stay up late and if they stayed up late... then they would sleep in. I immediately imagined a morning to myself, smiled and said "sure!".
The sleepover brought one surprise that I hadn't pre-planned for, I needed more food at dinner time then I had in the house and so we ordered out. When the pizza, fries and some other stuff arrived at the door we bolused, set an increased temp basal and Arden ate. About an hour later her BG began to slowly drift up. I had been noticing all day that her BG wasn't responding to boluses the way I expected and began considering if we needed a new pump site. An hour later after I wasn't getting the movement that I wanted (her BG was 160) Arden changed her pump.
I was aggressive with the insulin after the site change because of the new infusion, pizza in her belly and the excitement of a sleepover. Still around midnight her BG was still stuck at 150. When I went into Arden's room the three girls were passed out on an inflatable mattress that they set up next to Arden's bed. So it was air mattress on the far side of the room, then Arden's bed, then me. I was farthest from the air mattress because of where Arden's Omnipod PDM was located. I clicked a few buttons sent a bolus to her pod (it has great range) and went back to bed.
Not ten minutes later I decided that I should have also used an increased temp basal rate and so I snuck back in to the room. It was dark but I could see that Arden had made her way from the air mattress and was now sleeping in her bed. I crouched down next to her and held the wireless PDM close to her abdomen where she had recently put her new pod. The PDM couldn't connect. I tried again, wouldn't connect. I jammed the PDM between Arden and the mattress... nothing. As I began to worry that the new pod might not be working correctly Arden jumped up in the darkness, I had scared her. This felt wrong as she has never responded in the middle of the night like that. As I was about to ask if she was okay a voice said, "Sorry you scared me... Mr. B... I'm not Arden".
So it turns out that Nadia, Arden's friend was the one who moved from the air mattress to Arden's bed and the reason I couldn't connect to Arden's pod? It was across the room and Nadia's body was absorbing the signal.
We don't get too many middle of the night insulin related laughs around here and I imagine that you don't either so I wanted to share. I have to remember to tell this story on the podcast sometime. I felt like an idiot.