Author: Peter

Who decides how much you pay for prescription medicines? It's a question with a very complicated answer. Now, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is hoping to simplify the process and save you money by opening his own pharmacy...Cuban helped launch Cost Plus Drugs in January. It's an online pharmacy with no storefronts that offers more than 1,000 generic drugs. The business model is built on transparency. Each drug profile breaks down how Cost Plus determines its price: cost plus a 15% markup, $3 pharmacy fee, and $5 for shipping..."We get people coming to us and saying 'your price is $10, my co-pay is $20,'" said Cuban. "'So I'm ignoring my insurance and coming straight to you.'"...Cost Plus does it by negotiating directly with drug manufacturers and cutting out the middleman...READ MORE

In addressing a mountain of price-fixing claims in the United States, Teva has shown a preference for dealing with charges on a state-by-state basis...Teva agreed to settle with Georgia for $3.346 million, the company checked a third state off its price-fixing litigation list and then crowed about the success of its strategy...The agreement comes on top of settling price-fixing claims with Mississippi last year for $925,000 and with Louisiana five months ago for $1.45 million...The figures are relatively modest compared to the $420 million Teva agreed to pay investors earlier this year who alleged that the company concealed a price-fixing scheme which allowed it to raise the cost of some of its drugs by more than 1,000%...The allegations came to light three years ago when 43 states sued 20 generic drugmakers for divvying up markets and raising prices on more than 100 drugs...READ MORE

When Food and Drug Administration enacted the Drug Supply Chain Security Act in 2013, it set a 10-year timeline for full implementation. Well, believe it or not, we are just a little more than a year away from that November 2023 deadline...A significant portion of this last milestone requires the entire supply chain to become interoperable using secure and electronic means. One requirement that is included in Title II of the Act calls for product tracing at the package level, which had not been explored widely by the industry until recently. Our DSCSA State Regulator Pilot project tested a system for sharing this information between regulators and trading partners, including distributors, manufacturers, and others...READ MORE

...the FDA unveiled a framework to help manufacturers forge risk management plans aimed at combating drug shortages, two trade group heavyweights are sounding their discontent...the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization lobbed comments at the FDA’s draft guidance, issuing similar rebukes as those made by outfits like Civica and the Biosimilars Forum...While PhRMA said it “appreciates” the FDA’s differentiated approach to supply chain risks for varied drug products, plus the risk factors the agency has outlined,” the trade group “believes the draft guidance would benefit from a number of changes to enhance clarity for stakeholders developing and implementing [risk management plans] to mitigate drug shortages.”...BIO, meanwhile, took umbrage with certain terminology used in the FDA’s guidance alongside timing and structures for communication...READ MORE

Moderna Inc has refused to hand over to China the core intellectual property behind the development of its COVID-19 vaccine, leading to a collapse in negotiations on its sale there...the vaccine maker is still “eager” to sell the product to China...READ MORE

A new report finds that 1,216 pharmaceuticals increased their prices past the inflation rate of 8.5% from July 2021 to July 2022, with an average hike of 31.6%...The report and a second report on price trends released...by the Department of Health and Human Services underline how a new provision in the Inflation Reduction Act—an inflationary cap on Part D costs—will affect prices right as the cap is implemented Oct. 1...READ MORE

Nevada state police arrested a Washington state man and seized 56 pounds of suspected fentanyl with an estimated street value of $3.6 million from a vehicle a trooper stopped near the Utah line...Jorge A. Rivas-Vizcarra, 50, of Royal City was being held on multiple drug charges...in the White Pine County Jail in Ely where his bail was set at $750,000...He was arrested Monday after a traffic stop on U.S Highway 93 about 20 miles north of Ely...READ MORE

Local pharmacies are welcoming the news they will soon be able to refill some prescriptions for customers who don’t have a family doctor...But they agree with doctors who have said the change is not a long-term solution to the shortage of physicians...Overall, however, it is really needed right now, said Moez Karim, pharmacy manager, at The Pharmacy in Langley...“A lot of patients, especially in this area, they’re either seniors or they have real difficulty getting access to doctors and their family doctors. Often times, they are seeing them on the phone. I think they’re falling through the cracks. This is one way of reducing their stress.”...Minister of Health Adrian Dix announced last week that, starting Oct. 14, pharmacists across B.C. will be able to renew prescriptions for a wider range of medications so that people in B.C. can access medication “in a timely fashion and ensure continuity of their treatment.”...READ MORE

Nevada’s governor...said the state is launching a prescription discount card, a method of softening the rising costs of medications that is also used in Washington and Oregon...The digital card, called ArrayRX, saves an average of 80% on generic prescriptions and up to 20% on brand name drugs and is free for Nevadans, Governor Steve Sisolak said. For those without health insurance, the card is set to lower costs significantly...Those with health insurance will be able to compare their costs with ArrayRX, and can opt for whichever option is cheaper...READ MORE

After more than two decades of violating state law, the Nevada Board of Pharmacy must remove cannabis from a list of controlled substances deemed to be highly abused, a Clark County District Court judge ruled...The order followed a lawsuit brought forward in April by the Cannabis, Equity and Inclusion Community on behalf of Antoine Poole, a Las Vegas resident who was convicted of felony possession of a controlled substance for marijuana in 2017. The conviction occurred the same year recreational marijuana use became legal in Nevada...READ MORE