On behalf of the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Director of Programs Jen Childress presented comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) during a town hall on Medicare drug price negotiation.
Her remarks focused on Trulicity (dulaglutide) and its importance for Medicare beneficiaries living with type 2 diabetes and related chronic conditions. Childress urged CMS to center real-world patient outcomes — including adherence, treatment burden, and continuity of care — in its coverage decisions.
Childress highlighted that dulaglutide’s once-weekly administration supports stronger real-world persistence and adherence compared to some alternatives, a meaningful advantage for older adults managing complex medication regimens. She also noted dulaglutide’s utility for patients with chronic kidney disease, where reducing treatment complexity can directly improve the likelihood of staying on therapy.
Childress emphasized that the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program must:
- Preserve access to dulaglutide for beneficiaries who are stable and doing well on therapy.
- Protect against non-medical switching that disrupts adherence or continuity of care.
- Give appropriate weight to real-world persistence and treatment burden when evaluating access decisions.
Childress warned CMS against formulary or procedural changes that shift beneficiaries away from medications that work for them. She noted that harm from such policies falls disproportionately on disadvantaged populations already facing greater health challenges.
