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...House of Representatives subcommittee will take up bipartisan legislation next week to foster generic drug development…President (Donald) Trump made it clear...he wants competition to lower drug prices, and that is precisely what this measure will help accomplish...Specifically the bill will require FDA to prioritize, expedite and review generic applications of drug products that are currently in shortage, or where there are few manufacturers on the market...the bill would also increase transparency around the backlog of generic drug applications at the FDA, saying there was an "unacceptably high" number...

A fellowship program being developed at Touro University Nevada aims to put a dent in the doctor shortage locally while also providing more skillful care to Southern Nevada’s senior population...The school’s geriatrics fellowship program will fill a critical gap as the only such program in Southern Nevada when it launches in July, said Dr. John J. Dougherty, dean of Touro’s College of Osteopathic Medicine...The one-year-program, which is recruiting two fellows this year but will grow to four positions in 2018, was approved about two years ago through a national governing medical board... funding was a portion of the $10 million in graduate medical education funding set aside in Gov. Brian Sandoval’s budget for “attracting, educating and retaining” qualified new doctors in Nevada...Statistics suggest that people who complete their graduate medical education in Nevada are more likely to stay and practice here, which is one of the key reasons for the push to increase local residencies and fellowships...A fellowship program being developed at Touro University Nevada aims to put a dent in the doctor shortage locally while also providing more skillful care to Southern Nevada’s senior population...

Teva is eager to start moving in the right direction after a particularly rocky 2016. Problem is, it’s still paying for pay-for-delay decisions made by its products’ previous owners...the generics giant last week agreed to a $225 million settlement with a group that picked up Bayer antibiotic Cipro...Also...the FTC refiled charges against Watson and former parent Actavis, claiming they illegally blocked a lower-cost generic version of Endo’s Lidoderm after entering into a pay-for-delay pact with Endo...All things considered, “the cumulative sum of fines is getting noticeable”—especially for “cash-strapped” Teva...The Israeli company earlier this month walked down its previously outlined 2017 guidance by more than $1 billion after new 2016 launches didn’t hit their marks. And some analysts think Teva’s new revenue forecast—a range of $23.8 billion to $24.5 billion--may still be too high...

Donald Trump has a chance to rally his core supporters as well as left-wing Democrats, wrapping himself in the populist flag to take on the politically powerful drug industry...He is vowing to keep a campaign pledge to push legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, a practice currently prohibited by law. Proponents say this would reduce drug prices and Medicare costs for the federal government. Medicare pays for about 29 percent of prescription drugs in the U.S. and would have considerable leverage...If Trump goes all out on this issue, it will be near impossible for….Democrats to side with the industry over a Republican president whom they accuse of representing the interests of the rich.

The state of California has filed a civil suit against units of drugmakers Teva and Allergan, for allegedly obstructing generic competition to Lidoderm transdermal patches...The suit...alleges a "pay-for-delay" deal between the companies and Endo Pharmaceuticals, which already had its Lidoderm product on the market and had made $825 million off of it in 2011...Allergan signed an agreement with Endo Pharmaceuticals, promising that the company would not face any generic competition for Lidoderm from units of Allergan from May 2012 through September 2013 and in turn that Allergan would not face any competition from Endo until May 2014...anticompetitive agreements...lead consumers, payors and the State to pay, directly or indirectly, monopoly prices for Lidoderm medications and deny them the lower prices that generic competition provides...  

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

As Sanofi and Regeneron scramble to keep their PCSK9 cholesterol drug Praluent on the market, Amgen’s rival drug Repatha already appears to be chipping away at its market share...For the week of January 20, Repatha’s prescription total hit 3,231, ahead of Praluent’s 2,859...The Praluent partners are of course embroiled in a patent fight against Amgen, which claims that Sanofi and Regeneron knowingly stepped on its patents in developing Praluent. A district court jury sided with Amgen, and the judge in the case granted Amgen’s request for an injunction that would push Praluent off the market...Sanofi and Regeneron hope that the threat is short-lived; they’re trying to persuade the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to put off the injunction while their patent appeal is heard. In their request for a stay, the two companies argued that they have a good chance of winning their appeal and that pulling Praluent in the meantime would do great damage to Regeneron.

A Reno doctor arrested on allegations he participated in an opioid drug ring is the subject of a newly filed complaint by a Nevada medical board alleging 74 violations of the state’s Medical Practice Act...family physician Robert Rand, who was arrested in San Francisco in April, inappropriately treated patients by committing malpractice, violating opioid prescribing standards and engaging in unprofessional conduct, among other accusations...Rand, whose medical license remains active, is currently behind bars, according to the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office...

Kelly Walsh, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

It’s an edict that comes out every autumn in many hospitals: If health care workers don’t get a flu shot, they will face consequences. Some make vaccinations a condition of employment. Others require unvaccinated staff to wear surgical masks near patients for weeks during flu season...But a new study is calling into question the scientific evidence underpinning these increasingly common hospital policies — and could fuel challenges to the contentious orders...The study...concludes that the research used to justify mandatory flu shots for health sector workers is flawed, and that the policies cannot plausibly produce the benefits that had widely been assumed...the bottom line of our paper is to say there is no valid scientific evidence, even now, underpinning enforced health care worker immunizations...trying to mandate that health care workers take the flu vaccine is well-intentioned, but is taking away resources and the focus on what our main priority needs to be, which is getting a better influenza vaccine...