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Media scrutiny of high drug costs…spending on drugs represents 10% of overall health care costs. Together, hospital and physician expenditures account for 6 times the spending on drugs. Despite a recent uptick in the rate of drug cost growth, over the past 10 years the pace of hospital and physician expenditures has exceeded prescription drugs…these facts do not make for eye-catching headlines. By contrast, the recent surge in the price of drugs targeting hepatitis C, HIV, and various cancer and orphan diseases, is salient and the focal point of media attention…Here, we unravel several mysteries surrounding drug pricing and alignment of price and value.

• Why is pricing in the U.S. different?
• How are drugs priced in the US?
• What about R&D and its relation to price?
• Then what?
• But, does price = value?
• What are the alternatives?
• Summary

A massive trade pact between 12 Pacific rim countries could limit the availability of affordable medicines, the head of the World Health Organization said…joining a heated debate on the impact of the deal…Margaret Chan told a conference there were “some very serious concerns” about the Trans-Pacific Partnership…trade policy which still needs to be ratified by member governments…“If these agreements open trade yet close the door to affordable medicines we have to ask the question: is this really progress at all,” Chan asked a conference in Geneva…The deal’s backers, including the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia, say it will cut trade barriers and set common standards across 40 percent of the world’s economy…But other bodies, including leaders of India’s $15 billion pharmaceuticals industry, have said it could end up protecting the patents of powerful drugs companies inside the deal area, at the expense of makers of cheaper generic drugs outside.

Elias Cachine, PharmD, BCPS (AQ-10), discusses the factors that can potentially contribute to antimicrobial overuse in geriatric patients.

Starting today, all pharmacies in Greece will close for 24 hours due to a strike…The impact of closed pharmacies—including disruption to patients’ access to medications—may not be widely covered, as Greek journalists are preparing to cancel news broadcasts and online content today, as well…Public services, museums, and schools will also close, public transportation will be affected, and hospitals will function with emergency staff…Small regional airports will cancel flights, and ferries will stay in port.

Once a pharmacy has attracted a solid base of patients, the next step is keeping them coming…pharmacies can maintain a loyal community of patients…patients are on autopilot, so their habits may lead them to the same pharmacy every time. However, other patients may have medications filled at multiple pharmacies, and some of them may be looking for a home base…Here are 5 tips to keep patients loyal to your pharmacy:

1. Let patients know what you do, and tell your story
2. Implement an adherence program
3. Investigate your pharmacy’s challenges
4. Know your market
5. Find your niche

China has signaled a tougher stance on drug quality in the country’s sprawling pharmaceuticals industry by rejecting applications for 11 medicines with inadequate or suspect clinical data…China Food and Drug Administration said…that the move affected eight Chinese companies making generic drugs for heart problems, schizophrenia, pain, infections and other diseases…The crackdown follows a call in July for manufacturers to carry out their own internal investigations into trial data, which had already led to a number of voluntary recalls…The CFDA then carried out a series of on-site inspections…and discovered that clinical trial data in applications from eight companies for 11 drug products were incorrect or incomplete…“We have decided to withhold approval from these applications,”...

• Hainan Pharmaceutical
• Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical
• Hebei Pharmaceutical
• Qingdao Bai Yang Pharmaceutical
• Zhejiang Angli Kang Pharmaceutical
• Hainan Kang Chi Pharmaceutical
• Guangdong Pharmaceutical
• Shandong Da Yinhai
  

…Americans overdose and die after taking opioid painkillers...people abuse or misuse the drugs…addictions and deaths mount…authorities are struggling to cope…State lawmakers are introducing bills to restrict prescribing…Food and Drug Administration is pushing pharmaceutical companies to develop more tamper-resistant products…the most sweeping initiative comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has prepared preliminary prescribing guidelines for primary care physicians…call on doctors to prescribe opioids only after other therapies have failed…there is considerable opposition to the guidelines…critics…say the CDC guideline process was flawed and, as a result, some patients will be denied much-needed pain relief.

Report says small thefts may indicate syndicates are scoping out targets…Drugmakers have stepped up their game in recent years in protecting their supply chains against cargo theft. But thieves can be resourceful, and a big jump in losses in the third quarter indicates ways in which they have evolved their own techniques…In its Q3 report on U.S. cargo theft, FreightWatch International reported that while cargo thefts across all categories were down 18% and pharma thefts accounted for only 6% of total incidents, the numbers of cargo thefts in the drug industry increased a whopping 125% over the previous quarter and 350% over the same quarter a year ago…The industry continues to work with law enforcement to detect trends, and it has paid off with some arrests and convictions.

U.S. prosecutors plan to ask the Canadian and British governments to extradite officials with an online pharmacy on charges of smuggling $78 million worth of mislabeled, unapproved and counterfeit cancer drugs into the country to sell to doctors…Fourteen companies and individuals from Canada, the United Kingdom, Barbados and the U.S. are accused of participating in the conspiracy that involved falsifying customs declarations for shipments from the U.K., according to the criminal indictment…Winnipeg-based Canadadrugs.com and its CEO, Kristjan Thorkelson, are accused of spearheading the conspiracy, aided by a subsidiary in the U.K., River East Supplies Ltd., and two subsidiaries in Barbados, Rockley Ventures Ltd. and Global Drug Supply Ltd.

The differences between biotech and pharma have always been a bit arbitrary. They mostly amount to whether the company name has been around for a century or mere decades, and whether there's a "gen" or a "zyne" in there somewhere…One thing investors like about Amgen is its most pharma-like attribute: For years, it was the only biotech to pay a dividend…But the company now risks adapting one of Big Pharma's less-desirable habits: expensive buyouts that risk large chunks of capital and investor goodwill…Amgen would be the latest in a trend of biotechs becoming buyers instead of…targets…Everyone's chasing the same shiny object…The road to every blockbuster drug is a minefield…Amgen's fear of missing out is understandable. But the very fastest way to derail a good thing is through big, bad acquisition. If Amgen wants to keep swinging $10 billion bats, it can't afford to miss.