Author: Peter

Pfizer Inc and Allergan Plc walked away from their $160 billion merger on Wednesday, a major win for President Barack Obama, who has been pushing to curb deals in which companies move overseas to cut taxes...Pfizer said the decision was driven by new U.S. Treasury rules aimed at such deals, called inversions. The merger would have allowed New York-based Pfizer to cut its tax bill by an estimated $1 billion annually by domiciling in Ireland, where tax rates are lower…Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders said...that the new Treasury rule would not stop the company from doing other stock-based acquisitions as soon as this fall...It really looked like they did a very fine job at constructing a temporary rule to stop this deal and obviously it was successful…

College of Southern Nevada has unveiled a plan to build a $43 million health sciences building at its Henderson campus...School officials aim to use the 70,000-square-foot building as a training facility for aspiring health care workers at CSN and Henderson-based Nevada State College. CSN President Michael Richards...will introduce the state-funded proposal to Nevada’s higher education board...to help craft a policy agenda for Southern Nevadans in the 2017 Legislature...Barbra Coffee, Henderson’s director of economic development, touted the CSN proposal as a way to help feed the region’s growing need for health care workers. She pointed to a hospital-building boom in the Las Vegas Valley as well as ongoing efforts to create medical schools at UNLV and Henderson-based Roseman University...

Here’s a sticking point for diabetics: the cost of insulin more than tripled — from $231 to $736 a year per patient — between 2002 and 2013...The increase reflected rising prices for a milliliter of insulin, which climbed 197 percent from $4.34 per to $12.92 during the same period. Meanwhile, the amount of money spent by each patient on other diabetes medications fell 16 percent, to $502 from $600...The analysis also found that the cost of various...oral diabetes drugs either dropped in price or did not rise nearly as significantly as insulin. Metformin...fell to 31 cents in 2013 from $1.24 per tablet in 2002. And the newer class of diabetes drugs known as DPP-4 inhibitors rose 34 percent since becoming available in 2006...some doctors say diabetic patients, who are typically 60 years old or more, have difficulty paying for drugs, especially those who have trouble once they hit the donut hole in the Medicare Part D program and have to cover costs themselves...The cost of therapy is huge...I have patients who tell me that they have to stretch out the use of their medicines...High costs can lead to reduced compliance...

In a closely watched move, the Food and Drug Administration...released draft guidelines for labeling that should appear on biosimilars...the directive is likely to give a lift to generic drug makers as they battle their brand-name rivals in this nascent but important market...The battle over labeling is significant because this information is used by physicians to determine which medicine — the original biologic or the newer biosimilar — to prescribe to patients...the FDA rejected the argument made by brand-name companies that clinical trial data used to prove a drug is a biosimilar should appear on the product labeling. Brand-name companies believe the data should be included in order to distinguish the medicines...Instead, the agency proposed using the same information found on the brand-name label along with a simple statement indicating the biosimilar is similar...The issue is "a debate with far-reaching implications,"..."The content of the biosimilar label was argued as critical" for how companies position their different medicines. But in its guidance...the FDA "struck a clear position" for labeling that resembles the requirements found on generic drugs...

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has terminated the sales force for the female libido pill that it acquired last year for $1 billion...after the drug, Addyi, failed to gain traction in its first six months on the market...Valeant plans to relaunch its sales effort for Addyi with an internal team it will build in the coming months...Along with the 140 contract workers that make up the Addyi sales force, Valeant is firing about 140 employees across its dermatology, gastrointestinal and women’s health divisions, with dermatology taking the biggest hit...The cuts to Addyi’s sales force come after a sluggish start for the drug, which is the first of its kind for women suffering from a low libido. Insurers have been denying or limiting coverage for the pill and many prescriptions written by doctors aren’t getting filled...Valeant...failed to successfully commercialize the treatment by setting the price too high and neglecting to market it...

Most experts in corporate taxes thought there was little President Barack Obama could do to force Pfizer, the largest drug company in the U.S., from moving its corporate address to Dublin, Ireland, in order to escape paying American taxes...Yesterday evening, Jack Lew, Obama’s secretary of the treasury, called Pfizer’s bluff, instituting new rules to make the move as difficult as possible. The punch hit, and investors are reeling...Now the move could intensify an election-year battle over what it means for companies to be American, and the fairness of the U.S. corporate tax code...Lew is peeling the Allergan onion. Until last year, the company called Allergan...was based–and paid taxes–in Irvine, Calif. Then it was bought by Actavis , a Dublin, Ireland-based drug maker...But wait! Actavis itself was built by a rapid succession of deals, starting when Watson Pharmaceuticals...bought Actavis...partly in order to move its tax domicile to Dublin, Ireland. Now, for the purposes of laws related to the Pfizer deal, the Treasury says many of those other deals don’t count...the Treasury’s new rules reek of overreach. Really? We’re going to redefine what counts as a share of a company as a regulatory action, so that we can make the law mean what we want it to?...Pfizer is going to have to be just as clever as the Treasury is here, and then some...expect a fight: Pfizer versus the Obama administration.

Michael Cawley, BS, PharmD, RRT, CPFT, FCCM, professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of the Sciences, discusses why it is important that patients know which medication they should use in a particular situation.

A grant is nudging the nascent UNLV School of Medicine closer to its fundraising goals...The United Health Foundation has awarded the school a $3 million grant to develop educational programs and three planned community clinics...United Health Foundation’s grant will strengthen and support UNLV’s commitment to build a cutting-edge medical school that ensures quality health care in the community for generations to come...United Health Foundation was established by UnitedHealth Group, which includes Southwest Medical Associates...Robert McBeath, president and CEO of Southwest Medical Associates, said the company has been a big supporter of UNLV’s efforts to develop a medical school and would like to continue its relationship with the school...The partnerships are important because it brings the training of the medical students in line with the needs of the community...

Florida recently became the 10th state to restrict the sale of cough medicines containing dextromethorphan to adults over the age of 18, a move lauded by industry...a law addressing the issue of cough medicine abuse among teens...limiting teen access to DXM is an effective way to prevent abuse. We are assured that this legislation will empower parents to prevent abuse among their children, while continuing to ensure access for the millions of families who responsibly use products containing DXM to treat common cough symptoms...

Drug manufacturers have mounted a vigorous lobbying campaign against the county proposal, which would require pharmaceutical companies to finance a disposal program for unused medications and syringes...Proponents say the program would reduce chemicals ending up in the water supply, and would help curb prescription drug abuse by making sure that unused drugs are safely disposed of rather than stockpiled in medicine cabinets...The opponents say it would be costly and have little effect on the problem. They argue that the better solution would be to educate consumers about how to properly dispose of their unused medications...The county has about 20 collection sites run by the Sheriff's Department, and some pharmacies have voluntary take-back programs...But officials said there aren't enough available sites for the county's 10 million residents. They want the pharmaceutical industry to finance the creation of a larger network...pharmaceutical industry groups spent nearly $250,000 lobbying the county...Supervisors' offices received dozens of letters and phone calls from consumers worried that the measure would push up the cost of their medication...Consumer Healthcare Products Assn. said in a statement that the county proposal would create "an expensive, inefficient, unworkable and ineffective program that would garner low levels of participation and do little to accomplish the goals the county is seeking to resolve."