On Friday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that it is accepting letters of nomination for the Board of Governors of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCOR).

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act outlines the qualifications to serve on the Board.  It requires that the Board members bring a range of perspectives and have scientific expertise in clinical health sciences research, including epidemiology, decisions  sciences, health economics, and statistics.   

Nominations are due on June 30, 2010.

As congressional leaders continue to negotiate a health care reform bill, sectors of the health care industry are being asked to bring billions of dollars more to the table to pay for reform. For example, the pharmaceutical industry has been asked cough up an additional $10 billion to help pay for health care reform, specifically to help cover the cost of closing the “doughnut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug program. 

This request of PhRMA comes on the heels of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released this week on brand-name prescription drug pricing. At the request of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), GAO analyzed price increases for brand-name drugs between 2000 and 2008, including the frequency of price increases, the characteristics of the drugs, and the factors that contributed to the price increases. According to GAO, between 2000 and 2008, 416 brand-name drug products representing 321 drug brands had extraordinary price increases. These price increases ranged from 100 percent to 499 percent, but in a few cases were 1,000 percent or more. The price increases occurred in 20 therapeutic classes, but 52 percent were in the following three classes: central nervous system agents, anti-infective agents, and cardiovascular drugs. 

A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing examined recent reports of rapid price increases for brand-name prescription drugs. Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) expressed concern regarding the drug industry positioning its pricing to prepare for enactment of the health care reform bill, since it announced it will “give up” $80 billion in profits. Chairman Waxman was referring to the Senate Finance Committee and President Obama’s health reform deal with the pharmaceutical industry that agreed to a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs for beneficiaries in the doughnut hole. The House health care reform bill does not contain the $80 billion agreement and Chairman Waxman has been a vocal critic of the deal.