Sarah Karlin-Smith
Senior Writer
Sarah specializes in the policy and politics that affect the pharmaceutical industry. She covers the US Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service and Congress and other parts of federal and state government. Her work explores how government policies influence how drugs are developed and approved, what diseases are prioritized by scientists, and who gets access to medicines and at what cost. Sarah has covered health care since 2011. Prior to returning to the Pink Sheet in March 2020, she covered health policy at Politico for five years. She is a regular panelist on the Kaiser Health News 'What the Health' podcast. Sarah was selected for and attended a 2018 International Women’s Media Foundation reporting fellowship in Rwanda. In 2016, she attended Harvard Medical School’s media fellowship on bioethics and, in 2014, was an Association of Health Care Journalists-National Library of Medicine Fellow.
Latest From Sarah Karlin-Smith
Rx Rebating Bills In House, Senate Come Into Alignment As Passage Likely Punted to 2024
Legislation to delink PBM payments from drug prices advances in House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, putting a key pharma priority closer to the finish line. Whether patients will see any benefit remains a worry.
With Woodcock’s Retirement, US FDA Loses A Renaissance Woman
FDA will go on without Janet Woodcock, but it will likely take multiple people to fill in the gaps given her breadth of institutional knowledge, interests and skill sets, former close colleagues say.
With Woodcock’s Retirement, US FDA Loses A Renaissance Woman
The FDA will go on without Janet Woodcock, but it will likely take multiple people to fill in the gaps given her breadth of institutional knowledge, interests and skill sets, former close colleagues told the Pink Sheet.
Too Late For Amyloid: Bill Would Prevent Future Class-Wide Coverage Decisions By Medicare
House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee easily clears a bill that would prevent another class-based national coverage determination from Medicare, but with an amendment clarifying it is for prospective decisions only, making it too late for new Alzheimer’s drugs.
Are Specialty Drugs ‘Non-Essential?’ The Argument Underlying Alternative Funding Programs
Gaps and disputes around what the Affordable Care Act designates as ‘essential’ prescription drugs have allowed plans to provide more limited coverage of specialty medicines, some patient advocacy groups say.
Patient-Doc Task Force Building Legal Case Against Alternative Funding Programs
From illegal importation under FDCA to possible ERISA, HIPAA and ACA violations – a task force led by CancerCare is pushing regulatory agencies with levers to go after employer plans use of alternative funding programs for specialty drugs, which they say violate multiple federal laws.