Author: Peter

In case anyone thought it was just the U.S. where pharma has been accused of hiking prices, the U.K. has been quick to remind everyone it happens across the pond as well, after hitting Pfizer with a £10,000 ($14,100) penalty this week...What for? Technically, because it was late to submit documents demanded by the country’s Competition and Markets Authority --but in reality, this all revolves around one thing: pricing, and this is just the warm up act ahead of the watchdog’s bigger decision this fall--which could see Pfizer with a fine in the billions of pounds...in September of that year (2012) the drug (phenytoin sodium) lost its patent, and Pfizer sold it to Stevenage...while several other drugmakers also sold their generic versions. Cue a massive spending hike: the NHS paid £50 million for the drug in 2013, and £40 million in 2014. This left the pricing watchdog scratching its head: aren’t generics supposed to be cheaper?...The CMA is still sifting through all the documents and will come to a decision in August on whether Pfizer did abuse its market position. The maximum fine for this is a far more substantial 10% of its global turnover--which would work out as $4.89 billion based on last year’s revenues.

Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

GlaxoSmithKline is conducting an internal investigation into allegations that its subsidiary in Yemen hired government employees to influence purchasing decisions and boost sales of its medicines...more than a half-dozen Glaxo employees allegedly have also held various paid positions...at the government health ministry. The allegations are similar to those made two years ago concerning its operations in Iraq..."GSK has received allegations about staff conduct in Yemen and is investigating them thoroughly,"...The drug maker is currently being investigated by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission for potential violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The UK’s Serious Fraud Office is also investigating Glaxo for possible criminal violations of the Bribery Act...

A federal appeals court reversed a previous dismissal of a class-action lawsuit against Pfizer, ruling the case was wrongfully dismissed...The verdict, from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...sends the shareholder lawsuit back to the district court judge who originally heard the case...The lawsuit alleges Pfizer mislead shareholders about the safety of the company's Celebrex and Bextra pain-relieving drugs. A group of Pfizer investors initiated the suit in 2004, claiming the company concealed cardiovascular risks associated with Celebrex and Bextra, two COX-2 inhibitors approved as anti-inflammatories. In the mid-2000's, evidence mounted showing that COX-2 inhibitors significantly increased the risk of certain CVD events...In dismissing the case, the federal appeals court also ruled U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain erred in refusing to allow expert testimony from a former Univeristy of Chicago Law School dean, Daniel Fischel, about potential damages to shareholders.

Pharmacy students at Roseman University are volunteering to help Nevada’s Medicare population learn more about their insurance coverage, and a new grant is expected to boost their efforts...The students, who have been trained through the Nevada State Health Insurance Assistance Program, operate the school’s Medicare Call Lab, answering questions from Medicare participants and their families about insurance plans, prescription coverage and possible state and federal assistance eligibility...A $50,000 award through grant competition NobleCause will be distributed this month, allowing the lab to purchase tablets, dividers to separate students’ workstations and dual headsets to speed up training. It’ll also fund contract work with SHIP to have those counselors work more with students...Every call is a new experience because everybody has different issues, and they have different problems...Roseman’s Medicare Call Lab can be reached at 702-968-6615 or by email at medicare@roseman.edu.

Even as overall spending on prescription medicines in the United States rose 8.5 percent last year, prices for brand-name drugs rose just 2.8 percent, which represents a steady decline from recent years...By way of comparison, brand-name drug prices rose 9.1 percent in 2012 and continued to rise over the past two years, although at a slower pace — 5.1 percent in 2014 and 4.9 percent in 2013...We’re seeing a significant slowdown in price growth on a net basis...the trend suggests that payers — pharmacy benefits managers and insurers — are having some success pushing back against rising prices, an issue that has caused national outrage and placed the pharmaceutical industry on the defensive...spending on specialty medicines — a fast-growing category that includes treatments for hepatitis C, oncology, and autoimmune diseases — doubled over the past five years. These medicines accounted for 70 percent of the overall increase in spending between 2010 and 2015...Demand was higher for therapies such as those for treating depression and diabetes, which registered about 10 percent increases, while there was a nearly 17 percent drop in the number of narcotic prescriptions dispensed.

A total of 202 people have been detained in connection with a scandal over an illegal black market vaccine ring, the Chinese government said...as it vowed to improve supervision of the market...The case, involving millions of illegal trades of vaccines through a black market drugs ring, has ignited public ire and underscored regulatory weaknesses in the world's second largest pharmaceuticals market...The State Council...said in a report 202 people had now been detained, with 357 health and regulatory officials receiving administrative punishments...The supervision and regulatory system would be tightened, the State Council said, with better record keeping for the production, storing and transport of vaccines and tougher punishments for lawbreakers...The scandal has stirred angry debate, casting a shadow over government ambitions to bolster the domestic drug industry and underlining the challenge it faces to regulate a widespread and fragmented medicine supply chain.

Adapt Pharma, maker of Narcan (naloxone) Nasal Spray announced...the launch of its smartphone app Narcan Now. The app provides patients information about how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose, an instructional video and a three-step administration guide for Narcan Nasal Spray, as well as emergency services access...The app is available through the iTunes App Store for iOS devices and the Google Play store for Android devices.

A small mail-order pharmacy, which ships presorted packets of medicines to its customers, is waging a David-versus-Goliath battle with Express Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefits manager...PillPack has been part of the Express Scripts network of pharmacies...Recently...Express Scripts decided to cancel its contract with PillPack...PillPack chief executive, claims that Express Scripts is making this move because the company doesn’t want another mail-order pharmacy in its network to compete with its own mail order business...Express Scripts spokesman said the dispute with PillPack is purely about contract requirements...PillPack is "innovative and could be in our network, but hasn’t followed the rules and regulations." He argued that PillPack ships medicines to some states where it doesn’t have a pharmacy license; declared itself to be a retail pharmacy when it primarily does mail order business; and isn’t accredited by a national health care organization...PillPack is licensed across the continental United States, although it did encounter administrative problems in one state that have since been corrected...Express Scripts spokesman maintained that "we don’t see them as a threat. "We see them more as a collaborator especially in terms of patient adherence. But they have to follow the rules,"...

Co-Host Blair Green Thielemier, PharmD returns to the Pharmacy Podcast with a dynamic interview with Medication Therapy Management Pharmacist Nicole Rosenke about the Pharmapreneur Academy and building an MTM Business. (podcast 31:49 min)