Author: Peter

Walgreens Boots Alliance announced plans...to its cut annual costs by $1 billion within three years and reported first-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s estimates...The results also showed sales are struggling in Britain, one of its largest markets...Walgreens shares are down more than 2 percent this year bringing its market value to $69.3 billion. The stock has been under pressure as investors worry about the impact Amazon will have as it expands into the pharmacy business. To prepare for increased competition, Walgreens has announced partnerships with Kroger, Alphabet’s Verily and others...

Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

A report from the majority staff of the House Energy and Commerce Committee found that distributors, which fulfill orders for prescription drugs to pharmacies, failed to conduct proper oversight of their customers by not questioning suspicious activity and not properly monitoring the quantity of painkillers that were being shipped to individual pharmacies...The committee also found that the DEA did not properly use a database that aims to monitor the flow of powerful prescription painkillers from manufacturers to sellers, something that could have allowed federal agents — in real time —...The agency also curtailed enforcement of distributors...and infighting inside the agency affected the way cases were handled...

The Food and Drug Administration...issued a reminder to drug manufacturers that data integrity remains high on the regulator's agenda of Good Manufacturing Practice-related concerns, publishing new guidance aimed at helping drugmakers meet its standards...The document, which updates a 2016 version, lays out a series of questions and answers for drugmakers explaining how companies can ensure manufacturing data sets are complete, consistent and accurate. While a technical concern, the FDA makes clear that data errors carry real risk to patient health...Guidance isn't the only lever the FDA can pull to help companies comply. In recent years, the agency has flagged data integrity issues in numerous warning letters following inspections and pre-approval assessments.

- Providers and commissioners must nominate a board member responsible for Brexit preparation
- Anxiety about staff or members of the public stockpiling
- National operational response centre being established as staff assigned to Brexit readiness

In terms of medicines supply, the guidance said the government has agreed it will be prioritised, and stockpiling organised centrally will be supplemented by “additional national actions”...Today’s guidance reiterates previous instructions from the health secretary that medicines should not be stockpiled locally...HSJ understands national NHS leaders are seriously concerned some staff or parts of the UK may begin stockpiling particular medicines – or letting patients stockpile them – which could lead to shortages elsewhere. Local NHS chief executives said senior national figures had this week shown “anxiety” and “serious worry” about the potential consequences of Brexit.

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Medical marijuana has stepped onto the global stage...In what appears to be a first for marijuana and a major pharmaceutical company, a Novartis subsidiary and a Canadian producer of medical cannabis products have agreed to market them around the world...Tilray Canada announced the agreement...Under the deal...Tilray and Sandoz will work together to supply and distribute non-smokable medical cannabis products (co-branding eight oil and capsule medical cannabis products)...the two companies will target. Tilray now sells its products in 12 countries and has operations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Portugal, and Latin America...

A new nonprofit announced it will help fill the gap that was left earlier this year when federal budget cutbacks shut down a website that housed clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals...A new nonprofit announced it will help fill the gap that was left earlier this year when federal budget cutbacks shut down a website that housed clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals...The shutdown included AHRQ’s National Quality Measures Clearinghouse...The new nonprofit, The Alliance for the Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines, said recently it was launching Guideline Clearinghouse 2.0. AiCPG said it was created for the “charitable, educational and scientific purposes of freely disseminating evidence-based clinical practice guidelines information to the healthcare community in order to educate clinicians to improve patient care...A new nonprofit announced it will help fill the gap that was left earlier this year when federal budget cutbacks shut down a website that housed clinical guidelines for healthcare professionals.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration....recommended prescribing the opioid overdose reversal drug, naloxone, along with addictive painkillers...The recommendation of the panel underscores concerns about the growing opioid overdose epidemic...FDA studies found that co-prescribing naloxone to all patients who are prescribed painkillers could increase annual healthcare costs by $63.9 billion to $580.8 billion...I think co-prescribing is an expensive way to saturate the population with naloxone. The at-risk population is not necessarily the ones that are being prescribed new narcotics...

Forty-seven states and the Justice Department are investigating a price-fixing conspiracy that’s driving up the cost of generic drugs in the United States. One investigator called it “most likely the largest cartel in the history of the United States.” This crisis calls for action. That is why I’m introducing legislation to authorize the public manufacture of generic drugs wherever drug companies have warped markets to drive up prices....Drug companies use the “free market” as a shield against any effort to reduce prices for families. But they’re not operating in a free market; they’re operating in a market that’s rigged to line their pockets and limit competition. The entire pharmaceutical industry in reality runs on government-granted monopolies, mostly in the form of long-term patent protections...