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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.

It has been a tumultuous year for science and medicine...We asked a whole host of experts — scientists, CEOs, policymakers, and professors — to weigh in on what themes they expect to see emerge in the next 12 months.

- We’re getting closer to a universal flu vaccine
- The CRISPR story is just getting started …
- And so is the focus on China.
- The opioid crisis isn’t slowing down, either.
- Speaking of cannabis (and psychedelics) … it’s only heating up.
- Cancer research will increasingly focus on organoids.
- You’ll get more control of your health data.
- Broadly, though, expect a reckoning in the AI space.
- None of this will keep prices down.
- We’ll get a clearer picture on antibiotic resistance threats.
- Pharmacies may have to change to stay relevant.

More and more, specialty drugs carrying eye-popping price tags are winning FDA approvals. While more are certainly on the way—look at Novartis' recent presentation that a gene therapy could be worth millions per patient—analysts at drug pricing website GoodRx have tallied up the most expensive pharmacy-dispensed drugs in the U.S. per month as of November...Some are marketed by small pharma companies such as Vyera Pharmaceuticals, while top biotechs and pharmaceutical companies market others. Some have seen controversy, while others are lesser known. Rare disease meds make up much of the list, while some treatments such as those for hepatitis C treat diseases that affect millions of people...

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

Several major drugmakers, including Allergan, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, increased prices on a number of their drugs Jan. 1, holding with typical industry practice despite continuing scrutiny of rising pharmaceutical costs...While raising prices in January has become the norm for pharma, this year has become a test of whether recent criticism by lawmakers and the Trump administration would spur companies to hold off on increases. Data cited by Raymond James suggests this could be playing out somewhat: Drugmakers overall have instituted fewer price hikes from Dec. 1 through Jan. 1 than the same period last year, according to a recent note from the investment bank...

There is an appointed time for everything — including in biotech. There is a time to start a company, a time to wind it down, a time to go public, and a time to delist the stock...For every hopeful biotech toiling for decades before finally realizing a profit, there are countless others that run out of money or bet on a product that never delivers...STAT took a look at some of the biopharma and biotech companies that wound down their operations over the course of 2018 and what those companies’ executives are doing now.
Orexigen Therapeutics
Argos Therapeutics
Sancilio Pharmaceuticals

The Food and Drug Administration is looking for "pathways" to legalize the sale of CBD oil and other cannabis-based compounds in food and beverages in a move that could remove one of the last remaining legal hurdles for companies hoping to sell such products across state lines...FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb outlined steps the agency is considering in regulating cannabis products after President Donald Trump signed the farm bill into law on Thursday. The legislation — an $867 billion, five-year spending bill that funds agricultural, nutrition and other federal programs — also loosened some federal restrictions on cannabis. It legalized hemp by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act while preserving the FDA's authority to regulate the products...

Wellman is a professor of pharmacy at Ferris State University College of Pharmacy, where he co-launched a dual PharmD/MBA concurrent program...Wellman believes that today a PharmD/MBA degree is essential in preparing students for leadership positions in a wide variety of industries, including retail chain pharmacy, managed care, hospitals and pharmaceutical firms...“Any of the principles that are part of business apply to being a pharmacist,” Wellman said. “We need to be a financial manager, a human resources manager and an operations manager since there are a lot of legal and regulatory components because we work in complex medication distribution systems.”...Pharmacists also have the responsibility to oversee pharmacy techs, which Wellman said means pharmacists need to understand labor laws and different aspects of managing employees equitably...the new crop of pharmacy students need more than just clinical expertise, thanks to changes in reimbursement models and the expansion by many pharmacy retail chains into health centers and clinics...Pharmacy schools are realizing that the traditional business overviews they provide students is simply not enough, and they are stepping up to the plate offering dual PharmD/MBA programs.

A federal judge has blocked a Trump administration policy that reduces payments to hospitals under a drug discount program, ruling...that the government overstepped its authority in an attempt to address the high cost of prescription medications...The decision is a win for the 2,000-plus hospitals participating in the program, known as 340B, most of which serve large numbers of low-income patients...In 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services reduced its reimbursements for some drugs by about 28 percentage points...

Walgreens has undertaken a partnership to bring Aspen Dental-branded dental offices to two of its locations in Florida. The companies said the collaboration is aimed at helping transform Walgreens’ stores into health destinations that improve healthcare access in convenient settings...The companies held a “floss-cutting” ceremony at a location in Palatka, Fla. On Dec. 13, with the second Aspen Dental at Walgreens location set to open in the second quarter of 2019. The Aspen Dental office will offer free new patient exams and X-rays for patients without insurance and will feature an onsite denture lab to quickly turnaround custom dentures, repairs, relines or adjustments...