Morning Read: I know what YOU think of the Express Scripts drug report. But what will the candidates think?

TOP STORIES

It’s death by numbers in the Express Scripts drug report for 2015 (another topic perfect for the presidential campaign season). Among them:

• Overall, spending on prescription drugs rose 5.2 percent in 2015
• Specialty medicines account for 37 percent of all drug spending (and will be half by 2018)
• Spending on standard prescription drugs was about about 1 percent
• The average cost of generics dropped by 20 percent
• While the 2015 increase is four times the rate of inflation, in 2014 drug spending was up more than 14 percent.

Express Scripts CEO cheered the “only” 5.2 percent increase, and analysts think the use of generics and better negotiations by health insurance companies is helping reign in prices.

My opinion: That relatively bland, mildly self-indulgent but cogent analysis will not be shared by the presidential candidates. Brace yourself. – Financial Times, NPR, STAT

LIFE SCIENCES

The FDA breakthrough designation is working: cancer drugs brought into the program get approval about three months faster than other oncology treatments. – FierceBiotech

Johnson & Johnson will stop selling its automated sedation product Sedasys (poor sales). – The Wall Street Journal

GW Pharmaceuticals’s marijuana-based drug Epidiolex succeeded in reducing epileptic seizures in its first major clinical trial. – The New York Times

The FDA gave priority review status to atezolizumab, Roche’s bladder cancer immunotherapy treatment, and will decide on approval by September. – Reuters

Abbott’s Absorb stent has hit problems with FDA regulators; they’re worried about the potential for more heart attack and stent-related blood clots (Abbott’s got a federal hearing today). – Reuters, KQED

PAYERS-PROVIDERS

Independence Blue Cross is now covering telemedicine visits. – Becker’s Hospital Review

Oscar Health has grabbed the guy who manages Google Docs and Drive to be its chief technology officer. – Re/Code

The perfect provider storm: extremely sick members and a state’s decision not to expand Medicaid triggered a $400 million shortfall for Intermountain Health. – Modern Healthcare

TECHNOLOGY

New York is the first state to require that all prescriptions be created electronically and to back up that mandate with penalties. – The New York Times

HealthTap (quietly) acquired Docphin and the Docphin CEO now works for Facebook’s health team. – MobiHealthNews

Palo Alto Health Sciences, which just wrapped up showcasing at HIMSS, has added another $2 million in capital. – MobiHealthNews

POLITICS

Would Donald Trump’s health plan end coverage for 21 million? – The Hill

Feel the Bern – or not so much? Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to offer a $3 billion annual prize to encourage drug companies to develop new HIV and AIDS therapies. Downside: no exclusive marketing rights. – STAT

By creating this $3 billion yearly prize, Sanders said he hopes to open up the new medicines to generic competition immediately — bringing down the costs and changing the incentives of a system that he says is designed to keep the prices artificially high.

Federal subcommittees are looking at ways to chop $25 billion from healthcare spending. Among the changes: change the state Medicaid provider assessment from a maximum of 6 percent down to 5.5 percent. – Politico

Georgia legislators passed a bill saying insurance companies would no longer be allowed to require patients to first try conventional cancer treatments before being prescribed immunotherapy drugs. It’s inspired by Jimmy Carter’s recent cancer treatment. The governor still needs to sign the bill. – Reuters

A LITTLE BIT EXTRA

Pop culture is amazing. There was a show where one man told two women he loved them and the only proposed to one a week later. They’re calling it the “most dramatic” season of The Bachelor ever. – Washington Post, Mashable

Photo: Getty Images