Category:

As the #MeToo movement puts workplace sexual harassment at the front, Merck & Co. and Novartis, two of the largest pharma companies, find themselves entangled in a different kind of gender problem: alleged pregnancy discrimination...Merck for years has been embroiled in a lawsuit that accused it of discriminating against female sales reps in promotions and pay...The Merck suit...brought...by Kelli Smith, a former...saleswoman, alleged that Merck discriminated against female sales reps and against pregnant women in its decision on promotions and pay...Smith was demoted in March 2011, after she returned from maternity leave, and was put in the lowest-paid sales rep tier...Merck isn’t the only pharma company that has been under fire with gender-bias complaints. Novartis in 2010 agreed to pay $175 million to settle a similar suit. Christine Macarelli, a former...saleswoman, said in that case that her supervisor told her “women who find themselves in my position—single, unmarried—should consider an abortion,”...Now both Merck and Novartis are under scrutiny from the New York state government’s Division of Human Rights. The agency just sent the companies letters requesting information about the discrimination claims. Because New York has a law requiring employers to accommodate pregnant workers, the state could seek damages though administrative complaints, according to the NYT...

Britain’s public health service has started “significant planning” to ensure medicines are still supplied to patients if the government fails to negotiate a Brexit deal with the European Union, its head said on Sunday...Simon Stevens, chief executive of the National Health Service, said Britain’s health department was working with pharmaceutical companies to make sure there will be no breakdown in supply if there is no deal with the EU...The EU warned Britain again last week that time was running out for Prime Minister Theresa May to negotiate a deal and stop the country from crashing out of the bloc...

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.

A top official in China's drug control agency has hit back at accusations that Chinese suppliers are fueling the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States, arguing that Washington should pay more attention to domestic factors before pointing fingers at others..."It's common knowledge that most new psychoactive substances have been designed in laboratories in the United States and Europe, and their deep-processing and consumption also mostly take place there," said Liu Yuejin, deputy chief of China's National Narcotics Control Commission..."The US should adopt a comprehensive and balanced strategy to reduce and suppress the huge demand in the country for fentanyl and other similar drugs as soon as possible," said Liu, whose comments coincided with the release of China's annual drug situation report.

A top Democratic senator is asking PhRMA and BIO, the major pharma and biotech industry trade groups, to detail what they are doing to address sexual harassment at their members’ companies, particularly after an industry event earlier this month featured topless dancers...In two letters...Sen. Patty Murray (Washington State)...cited “problematic public reports of gender discrimination and objectification.”...In both letters, Murray took particular aim at the Party at BIO Not Associated with BIO, an industry event that is not directly affiliated with BIO but that took place near its convention in Boston this month. The event featured topless dancers on mini stages, some of whom had company logos painted on their bodies...Murray called it an event with a “highly concerning history of objectifying women and using culturally inappropriate themes.”...“The bottom line is that objectifying women and exploiting cultural traditions for the purposes of entertaining fellow industry members is a deeply troubling indication of the way the industry leaders still devalue diversity and inclusion,” she wrote.

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

The Food and Drug Administration approved the medication, called Epidiolex (cannabidiol), to treat two rare forms of epilepsy (Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome) that begin in childhood. But it's not quite medical marijuana...British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals studied the drug in more than 500 children and adults with hard-to-treat seizures, overcoming numerous legal hurdles that have long stymied research into cannabis...FDA officials said the drug reduced seizures when combined with older epilepsy drugs...The FDA has previously approved synthetic versions of another cannabis ingredient for medical use, including severe weight loss in patients with HIV...Epidiolex is essentially a pharmaceutical-grade version CBD oil, which some parents already use to treat children with epilepsy. CBD is one of more than 100 chemicals found in marijuana...it doesn't contain THC, the ingredient that gives marijuana its mind-altering effect...Physicians say it's important to have a consistent, government-regulated version...

Amazon has entered the pharmacy business with its acquisition of PillPack, a small mail pharmacy. Consider this move to be the end of the beginning for the pharmacy industry's evolution...The stock prices of pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers predictably plunged...This is a small first step that will let Amazon begin growing a pharmacy dispensing business...We are still a long, long way from a fundamental restructuring of the complex U.S. drug channel. The incumbents still have opportunities to defend their position, capture value from internet technologies, and streamline distribution...
OBSERVATIONS

• Amazon has made a small, partly defensive move into pharmacy dispensing.
• Amazon now has a turnkey platform for disrupting the cash-pay prescription business.
• Amazon can reinvent consumer perceptions of non-store pharmacy dispensing.
• PBMs face the prospect of disruption to their long-favored network strategies.
• Amazon still lacks a specialty pharmacy solution—and may not want one.
• The deal is good news for vertical integration.

Amazon is acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that is already shaking up the drugstore industry...The move is the strongest indication yet of Amazon's intent to push further into the health-care industry. It threatens to remove one of the few distinguishing factors pharmacy chains have relied on to fend off Amazon, the sale of prescription drugs. Retailers like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Rite Aid have seen their so-called front of store sales threatened as shoppers increasingly buy household staples online or from convenience stores...PillPack, which organizes and delivers packages of medications for consumers, is licensed to ship prescriptions in 49 states...Terms of the deal with Amazon were not disclosed, though people familiar with the matter told CNBC that Amazon paid roughly $1 billion. The companies expect it to close during the second half of the year...

Rite Aid executives issued an unusually lengthy plea for shareholders to vote in favor of its merger with Albertsons amid opposition by some investors who’ve been trying to derail the deal...Before shareholders is a $24 billion merger with grocery store giant Albertsons announced in February that would result in Rite Aid shareholders owning about 30% of the combined new company. The combination of Rite Aid, which operates RediClinic, and Albertsons would create a company with 319 health clinics and 4,345 pharmacies after the merger closes...Some investors were upset that senior executives will be paid retention bonuses even if the deal falls through. Others were upset that Rite Aid isn’t getting a higher price, especially as pharmacy benefit managers are suddenly an acquisition target and shareholders see value in Rite Aid’s PBM, EnvisionRxOptions, which has been growing rapidly...