Author: Peter

Declines in the value of the Egyptian pound coupled with a shortage of foreign exchange have made it harder for Egyptian pharmaceutical companies to import active ingredients they need to make generic medicines millions of poor Egyptians rely on...Though medicines are classed as essential goods, putting them high on the priority list at banks deciding how to allocate precious dollar rations, pharmaceutical companies say they still face serious problems that force them to slow or pause production...A weaker currency has also made it more expensive to import raw materials while the price of finished medicines is fixed by the Health Ministry, forcing manufacturers to stop making some cheap generic medicines to staunch growing financial losses...

U.S.-based health insurers Cigna Corp and Aetna Inc have struck deals with Novartis AG for a performance-based price for the Swiss drugmaker's new heart drug, Entresto...The agreements are among the few performance-based deals that have been made public by drugmakers and managed-care companies, which say they have been having more discussions about linking price to health outcomes in order to cut unneeded drug spending...Under the agreement, Cigna said its payments to Novartis will be linked to how well the drug improves the relative health of Cigna customers...Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) is approved for the treatment of chronic heart failure...Cigna said payments will be based on a reduction in the proportion of customers who are admitted to hospital for heart failure...Aetna...said it signed a value-based agreement with Novartis that is based on the drug replicating results that it achieved during clinical trials. In trials, Entresto cut hospitalizations and the rate of cardiovascular death related to heart failure...Epstein (David Epstein, head of pharmaceuticals, Novartis)...said that under the deals, Novartis had agreed to a base price and a modest rebate, which would fluctuate based on hospitalizations and savings to the plan...

In response to mounting criticism over prescription drug prices, the pharmaceutical industry’s trade group is running a new ad campaign aimed primarily at federal and state lawmakers in hopes of shifting their focus away from controversy over costs...Under the banner "From Hopes to Cures," the effort does not mention pricing. Instead, the ads emphasize the "value of innovation" and advancing science, while adding select patient stories. Several million dollars will be spent on the campaign, which will appear on social media — such as Facebook and Twitter — as well as on radio and in print. Ads will not run on television...The campaign by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents the largest drug makers, emerges as the industry is getting skewered over pricing... the industry trade group wants to influence the influencers and choke off the possibility that lawmakers will take action...the ads will also run in some states, a PhRMA spokeswoman tells us, although those states have not yet been selected. That decision is designed to counter moves by some states where bills have been introduced in response to rising prices.

New York Giants player’s info ended up on Twitter after doctors amputated his finger...Two employees of Jackson Memorial Hospital have been fired for accessing and leaking the medical records of New York Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul after the football star lost part of his hand in a July 4, 2015 fireworks accident...The hospital, in its statement, said it had chosen not to comment earlier due to litigation surrounding the incident that has since been settled..."As part of our investigation into the breach, it was discovered that two employees inappropriately accessed the patient's health record. That finding resulted in the termination of both employees," officials said in the statement..."Protecting the privacy of our patients is a top priority at Jackson Health System. Any time we have allegations of a breach, we immediately and thoroughly investigate."

Hospital says MH-CURE offers care teams secure, access to all clinical communications, pertinent patient information and lab data...Patient care teams at Yale-New Haven Hospital, looking for a faster, more efficient and more secure way to communicate with each other in the emergency room, have adopted smartphone applications to speed up workflows. Eventually, the hospital bucked its traditional methods, which included a public address system and a VOIP wireless phone system, turned to MH-CURE – for Clinical Urgent Response – a smartphone application from Waltham, Massachusetts-based Mobile Heartbeat...MH-CURE offers care teams secure, single smartphone access to all clinical communications, pertinent patient information and lab data. Care team members have a choice of using their own smartphone or sharing hospital-supplied devices. It consolidates clinical communications, including alarms and notifications, pertinent patient information, lab data, texting, voice and photography...Results revealed that the amount of time required for clinicians to locate and transmit information to one another was greatly reduced, allowing staff to spend more time with patients and thus provide better patient care...

In the fight against brain disease, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is putting its money on the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health...The mixed martial arts organization...announced a $1 million donation over five years in support of the center's Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, which aims to understand the long-term effects of brain trauma...UFC Chief Operating Officer Ike Lawrence Epstein announced the donation....The goal of the study is not just to gather data on trauma but also to determine if brain damage can be detected early enough for intervention...CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a degenerative brain disease found in people who have suffered repeated head trauma..."We're really pushing all of our athletes to make sure they come to this facility and get tested and be part of this study because that's the key to all of this," Epstein said.

A Los Angeles-area doctor convicted of murder for prescribing exorbitant amounts of painkillers that left a dozen patients dead was sentenced...to 30 years to life in prison...The conviction of Dr. Hsiu-Ying "Lisa" Tseng and her long prison sentence are rare for a doctor...Minutes before she was sentenced, Tseng apologized in court to the families of her dead patients and others who became addicted to prescription drugs under her care...In handing down the harsh sentence, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge George Lomeli said he found it egregious that Tseng continued to write reckless prescriptions even after learning her patients were dying..."(She’s) a person who seemingly did not care about the lives of her patients in this case but rather appeared more concerned about distributing dangerous controlled substances in an assembly line fashion so as to collect payments which amounted to her amassing several million dollars," Lomeli said...

A medical advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration...recommended approval of a cheaper biosimilar form of Johnson & Johnson's Remicade (infliximab) arthritis drug that could eventually batter sales of the branded product...The panel, by a vote of 21-3, supported use of the biosimilar from Celltrion Inc and Pfizer Inc, called Remsima. The FDA usually, but not always, follows the advice of its advisory panels...The independent panel determined that clinical trials of Remsima showed no clinically significant differences with Remicade in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and a related condition called ankylosing spondylitis...Moreover, the panel agreed Remsima is likely as safe and effective for other conditions Remicade treats, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, even though Remsima was not tested against those conditions.

Not to be left on the sidelines, several pharma companies took to the airwaves Sunday for the biggest ad show of the year, also known as the Super Bowl. With one of the largest consumer audiences on TV, dozens of advertisers jockey to get their messages in the game, this year at an estimated $5 million per 30 seconds...Valeant Pharmaceuticals nabbed two spots, one for its IBS-D fighter Xifaxan and another for anti-fungal cream Jublia...AstraZeneca ran an unbranded :60 spot addressing opioid-induced constipation, encouraging people to talk to their doctors "and ask about prescription treatment options." The ad included a callout to the website OICisdifferent.com...However, just being in the Bowl doesn't guarantee success with the cheese dip and beer-drinking crowd. In the all-important social conversation around the game, pharma spots ranked in the middle of the pack or even lower...AZ's OIC spot ranked highest among the pharma group at No. 28 for total social impressions, garnering more than 26 million by mid-Monday morning. Xifaxan, which debuted a follow up to its current campaign with new creative in which the 'Gut Guy' races to the restroom at a football game, ranked No. 54. Jublia continued its celebrity star theme...ranked No. 68...

The pharmaceuticals market in India, valued at $20 billion in 2015, is set to soar to $55 billion by 2020, representing an impressive Compound Annual Growth Rate of 22.4 percent...India’s rapidly growing generics market is the primary driver of the nation’s pharmaceutical sector, with sales expected to soar by nearly 84percent to $26.1 billion in 2016. Generic drugs, with their low costs and easy accessibility, now dominate India’s pharmaceutical space, accounting for around 70 percent of the market...India supplies 20 percent of global generic medicines in terms of export volume, making the country the largest provider of generic medicines globally...Another driver of India’s pharmaceutical sector is the potentially lucrative biosimilars market, which is expected to increase to $40 billion globally by 2020, as biologic treatments are introduced for diseases such as diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis...