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Samantha DiGrande, Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network

Five U.S. states...filed lawsuits accusing Purdue Pharma LP of illegally marketing and selling opioids, escalating the wave of litigation over a nationwide abuse epidemic...Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin joined 39 states to file lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharma and its leaders, including former president Richard Sackler and his family...Officials accused Purdue Pharma of repeatedly making false and deceptive claims that opioids...were safe for a wide range of patients seeking to reduce pain...READ MORE

A new forum comprising pharmacists, pharmaceutical scientists and pharmacy educators with expertise, experience and interests in technology was launched by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)...This new forum aims to support our profession to take that ownership,” said FIP’s president Mr Dominique Jordan. Among the objectives of the Technology Forum, established at the behest of Mr Jordan, will be to explore global initiatives in technology and pharmacists’ involvement...It will also be tasked with outlining technological trends and their potential impact on pharmacy, and providing guidance for FIP members on technology matters, including digital trends, medical devices, “Amazonification” of pharmacy, and mobile health (mHealth)...READ MORE

Novartis AG is offering price discounts in negotiations with U.S. health insurers on its gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, a treatment that could cost more than a million dollars, but the gesture comes with strings attached...The Swiss drugmaker wants insurers to commit to coverage for patients identified with the rare and often deadly disease...Novartis also seeks their support for widespread screening to identify newborns with SMA, and to ensure quick authorization for the gene therapy, with the aim of starting treatment within two weeks of diagnosis...The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is due to decide this month on approval for Novartis’ Zolgensma. Novartis, which has made a huge bet on gene therapy for future growth, says the one-time treatment could be a cure for SMA and is pushing for a price in the range of $1.5 million to $5 million. That would make Zolgensma the most expensive new therapy to date...READ MORE

Opioid use has reached crisis proportions not only in the United States but also in Canada and some European countries, as prescription opioid painkillers have become much more common, the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)...said... nearly 400,000 people died of overdoses between 1999 and 2017...The Paris-based policy forum said deaths linked to opioid use were also rising sharply in Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England and Wales...Canada reported more than 10,000 opioid-related deaths between January 2016 and September 2018, with rates increasing from 8.4 per 100,000 people to 11.8 over the period...Between 2011 and 2016, opioid-related deaths rose more than 20% in 25 member countries...READ MORE

Pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences has agreed to donate drugs that reduce the risk of HIV transmission for up to 200,000 people a year...The agreement between Gilead and the Trump administration will last until at least Dec. 31, 2025, and possibly through the end of 2030, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement...Gilead will donate its PrEP medication Truvada, which is used to reduce the risk of HIV infection and usually sells for $1,600 to $2,000 a month in the United States...The deal will “help us achieve our goal of ending the HIV epidemic in America!,” President Donald Trump said in a tweet...READ MORE

Pharma is the fourth-largest spender on TV ads in the U.S., with $6.6 billion spent over the past year. That’s according to MediaRadar’s annual study of TV ad spending, which includes OTC drug ads in its total that push it higher than other tallies...While likely no surprise to most TV viewers, only retail ($8.7 billion), financial and real estate ($7.9 billion) and tech ($7.4 billion) serve up more TV ads than pharma. The industry edged out automakers ($6 billion), a traditional TV ad stronghold that’s been dropping media spend as car sales continue to decline...The top-spending pharma companies...Pfizer, AbbVie and GlaxoSmithKline. Pfizer spent most on brands Chantix and Eucrisa, while AbbVie spent on Humira, Orilissa and Mavyret. GSK spent more of its TV dollars on prescription product Breo Ellipta, but also on consumer brands Sensodyne and Flonase....READ MORE

Pharma TV ads have been breaking out their boogie shoes lately. A handful of branded drug ads currently on the air are using popular ‘70s light rock songs to accompany their treatment messages, both to aid recall and to reach older audiences with music from their youth...Music can be a powerful emotional and memory device in advertising...Music can conjure up fond (and not-so-fond) memories. Just think about how most people learn the alphabet by using the familiar song to help them remember it. And who hasn’t had an earworm pop lyric stuck in their head all day?...For pharma companies, the familiar, upbeat and bouncy ‘70s tunes quickly grab attention with the audience they’re likely intended for. Songs from the ‘70s and ‘80s...are often targeted at a specific group of older consumers who grew up on those songs...READ MORE

Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs...filed in federal court in Connecticut, also names 15 individual senior executives responsible for sales, marketing and pricing...Connecticut Atty. Gen. William Tong...said investigators obtained evidence implicating 20 firms..."We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multibillion-dollar fraud on the American people," Tong said. "We have emails, text messages, telephone records and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multiyear conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs."...READ MORE