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As Purdue Pharma grapples with thousands of lawsuits blaming the company for contributing to the opioid crisis, the drug maker has signaled it may file bankruptcy. If that happens, some newly created subsidiaries are likely to come under scrutiny...Purdue has launched two limited partnerships that are now marketing or developing drugs that were previously listed as part of the Purdue product portfolio. Several current and former Purdue executives run these companies, both of which the drug maker refers to as operating subsidiaries...The timing of all these activities — from creating the subsidiaries to transferring assets and employees — could be an issue for Purdue and the Sacklers, since these occurred not long before the drug maker indicated bankruptcy is a possibility...READ MORE

State legislators in Massachusetts are preparing to review a slew of bills aimed at state-level drug pricing, and the pharmaceutical industry is opening its checkbook to fight back...The state’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on April 11 will examine 21 bills targeting price transparency and affordability for patients. State Sen. Cindy Friedman...will take a hard look at measures to open up drugmakers' pricing secrets and lower sticker prices for patients...But pharmaceutical companies aren’t taking that challenge sitting down...the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America, told FiercePharma that the state’s push to cap prices would keep patients from getting the drugs they need...“We oppose government price-setting proposals in the states,” spokeswoman Priscilla VanderVeer said. “Government price controls limit access to medicines for patients and they stifle new innovation.”...READ MORE

Novartis AG must face a U.S. government lawsuit accusing it of paying millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors so they would prescribe its drugs, after a federal judge ruled in a decision...that the government had offered evidence of a “company-wide kickback scheme.”...U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan also rejected the Swiss drugmaker’s bid to keep key government evidence out of the case, and ruled that the government does not have to prove a direct “quid pro quo” agreement between Novartis and doctors for the company to be liable...READ MORE

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.

Unlike several other markets, the U.S. consumer healthcare system generally does not allow for the “third leg” of health care: pharmacists prescribing prescription medicines...A U.K. pharmacy can be qualified as one of three general types in terms of the services it provides. The baseline or essential services... enhanced pharmacy services...The highest level...is called advanced...The more advanced level is the independent prescriber who is responsible for the assessment of patients with undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions, who makes decisions about the clinical management required, and who ultimately draws up a treatment plan...The United States is dipping its toe in the waters of pharmacy prescribing in such rural states as Idaho, and even California and Washington, but it is not a national structure. Filling gaps in care through pharmacist prescribing would strengthen community pharmacy’s value proposition within the healthcare system...READ MORE

China will add fentanyl-related substances to a supplementary list of controlled narcotic drugs from May 1, the government said...The statement was jointly issued by the Ministry of Public Security, the National Health commission and National Medical Products Administration...U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer said in March he would prefer to include China’s commitments to curb fentanyl in any trade agreement...READ MORE

New York State...laid out one of the most detailed and sweeping legal cases yet against the family that owns Purdue Pharma…The lawsuit, filed by the state attorney general Letitia James, is one of the very few in a wave of opioid litigation across the country that name the Sacklers. It targets eight family members: Richard, Jonathan, Mortimer, Kathe, David, Beverly and Theresa Sackler, as well as Ilene Sackler Lefcourt...The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court...seeks to recover the state’s costs for unnecessary prescriptions and related health care expenses, along with financial penalties...The suit also seeks to claw back funds that it alleges were transferred from Purdue Pharma to private or offshore accounts held by members of the Sackler family in an effort to shield the assets from litigation; to order the Sacklers to return any transferred assets; and to restrain them from disposing of any property...READ MORE

Johnson & Johnson’s anticoagulant Xarelto has picked up an industry first. On Friday, it became the subject of the first-ever TV drug ad with a list price included...The company has tweaked two already-running ads to add Xarelto's $448 list price at the end of the spot, along with a range of typical out-of-pocket costs. J&J took the initiative to add list prices to the ads after a Trump administration proposal...J&J is not entirely alone...The Big Pharma members...all agreed last October to add pricing info links to all TV drug ads beginning in April, with some already doing so. Eli Lilly, for instance, began adding on-screen link referrals in January to its dedicated pricing website in TV ads for drugs including Trulicity and Emgality...READ MORE

After running the FDA for two years, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb’s last day is Friday...Gottlieb discusses the personal toll of commuting to work in Washington, D.C. from his home in Westport, Connecticut...Gottlieb said he has “no idea” what he will do next other than spending time with his three young daughters...READ MORE

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