The committee advanced SB 26-140 — a bill exempting orphan drugs and plasma-derived biologics from Colorado's Prescription Drug Affordability Board review — on a 5-2 vote after a marathon hearing dominated by patient advocates on both sides, while HB 1096 on direct primary care for Medicaid patients was killed 4-3 after 19 amendments failed to resolve a core dispute over requiring patients to pay out of pocket.
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Senator Weissman argued that the federal rare disease designation at 21 USC 360BB is 'too broad frankly' and that 'the DC lobby has had their way with that drafting,' and stated he could not vote yes on the current text. Dr. Kyle Leggett testified that 75% of orphan drug sales are for treating common conditions and that relying on the federal designation 'is covering way too many things,' while Christy Martin argued five of the ten bestselling drugs in 2025 — including Keytruda and Humira — would have been exempted. Sponsors Marchman and Frizell countered that Oregon maintains a full orphan drug exemption while still reviewing 23 drugs and finding nine unaffordable, and that the bill targets drugs where price caps produce 'not savings but suffering.'
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“PDAB ultimately decided not to find Trikafta unaffordable after hearing from so many patients about the potentially catastrophic outcome. But those families, frankly, should not have been put through months of fear in the first place. And when the review closed, they exhaled, and they said, well, what happens next time? The board and the staff have already openly said they intend to review TRIKAFTA again. So this bill is my answer to that question.”
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Sign in to subscribeSenate Health and Human Services, come to order. Mr. Brown, please call the roll. Senators Doherty. I mean, Bright here. Cutter. Here. Doherty. No, she pulling up online. She's saying she needs to be promoted. Here. Frizzell. Present. Weissman. Good afternoon. Judah. Present. Mr. Chair. Malika. Here. I'm going to pass the gavel to Madam Vice Chair for these confirmations. Good afternoon, everyone. Our first order of business is the confirmation hearing of the Colorado Commission on Aging. The appointees for the day are ellie taxman, Jake McGuire. Who's remote? Danielle Hubbard, Peter Haynes, Laura Kinder, Jody Waterhouse, Kate McLaughlin and McLaughlin Bond and. And Erin Alt. Kristin Burrows is a senior specialist on aging with cdpheats, here to introduce them. If you guys could come to the table, I know that's a lot of folks. We can pull up some chairs if we can make it work and if we can get our person remote on, that would be wonderful. And feel free to pull up some chairs from. Thanks for accommodating it. We can be efficient. And. Ms. Burrows. Perfect. Do you want to get started? Oh, there you go. Thank you. Vice Chair Judah. My name is…
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