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The Trump administration’s surprising $765 million deal that would enable former photography giant Kodak to start making drug ingredients has yet to be finalized, and it’s already attracted plenty of controversy. First, insider trading allegations from the U.S. Senate—and now, an investigation by House Democrats...The lawmakers are questioning why the government picked Kodak, which has little experience in pharma manufacturing, for such a major pact, as well as suspicious stock transactions by company executives...READ MORE

Unhappy with the price and availability of Gilead’s remdesivir—the only drug with FDA clearance to treat COVID-19—dozens of state attorney generals have called for the federal government to exercise march-in rights to allow for broader production of the medicine...In a letter to the heads of the FDA, HHS and NIH, 34 attorneys general wrote that Gilead has been unable to ensure “sufficient” supply and has priced the medicine out of reach for many patients who need it. Gilead is charging $3,120 per treatment course for patients with commercial insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, and $2,340 for patients on certain smaller federal programs...READ MORE

Whether or not the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine helpful in treating patients with COVID-19 has been a topic of debate for months now...“Recommendations of many of the people including doctors. many think it is extremely successful,” the President said...In Reno, one local doctor says the drug has helped several dozen of his patients...“Frankly, everyone that I have treated has gotten better”...Doctor Bruce Fong is Medical Director at Sierra Integrative Medical Center in south Reno. He says when paired with azithromycin and zinc, hydroxychloroquine has been effective...Many of the nation’s top medical experts do not agree, and Fong feels he knows why...“There was nobody bothering us about it and trying to put up regulations about it prior to President Trump saying something about it. It seems like his political enemies try to make him look bad.”...READ MORE

A federal appeals court has ruled the Trump administration can install nearly 30% cuts to the 340B drug discount program...The ruling...is the latest legal setback for hospitals that have been vociferously fighting cuts the Department of Health and Human Services announced back in 2017...340B requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to deliver discounts to safety net hospitals in exchange for participation in Medicaid. A hospital will pay typically between 20% and 50% below the average sales price for the covered drugs...HHS sought to address a payment gap between 340B and Medicare Part B, which reimburses providers for drugs administered in a physician's office such as chemotherapy. There was a 25% and 55% gap between the price for a 340B drug and on Medicare Part B...So HHS administered a 28.5% cut in the 2018 hospital payment rule. The agency also included the cuts in the 2019 payment rule...Three hospital groups sued to stop the cut, arguing that HHS exceeded its federal authority to adjust the rates to the program...READ MORE

President Donald Trump...signed an executive order aimed at boosting U.S. production of medicines and medical equipment, lowering drug prices and protecting the United States against shortfalls in a future pandemic...Trump said the order would also support advanced manufacturing processes that would benefit U.S. pharmaceutical companies...The long-awaited measure includes a “Buy America” provision mandating federal purchases of certain medical supplies and equipment deemed essential and moves to remove regulatory hurdles to approval of new U.S. drugs...READ MORE

Last Friday’s Executive Orders revived the government’s effort to reform rebates in federal programs. Whether that effort succeeds, today's update reminds us what's still at stake in reforming rebates within the U.S. drug channel...For 2019, Drug Channels Institute estimates that the gross-to-net bubble—the dollar gap between sales at brand-name drugs' list prices and their sales at net prices after rebates and other reductions—reached $175 billion...The bubble reflects—and drives—many of patients’ problems and misunderstandings of U.S. drug prices...However, the political and practical challenges to rebate reform remain daunting. Few people grasp the complex economic interplay of patient out-of-pocket spending, cost-shifting, premiums, and payer incentives...READ MORE

The planned introduction of a wide-ranging bill granting certain businesses enhanced immunity from COVID-19 related death or illness lawsuits has drawn the ire of officials from hospitals and other health care facilities, who say it unfairly opens them up to the threat of lawsuits...the enhanced liability protections envisioned in the bill would be granted to casino resorts, government agencies, nonprofits and other kinds of business while explicitly carving out health care facilities...That exemption...has drawn a sharp rebuke from the Nevada Hospital Association and other health care providers, who say it would prohibit them from transferring patients between facilities or prohibit visitors from coming to visit patients...READ MORE

As Covid-19 drives many patients away from in-person care and toward virtual visits, experts warn that the nation’s most vulnerable members may be shut out of the booming telehealth business...Federal policymakers temporarily relaxed regulations to make it easier to provide virtual care during the pandemic, fueling a shift toward telemedicine that has become so popular among patients and providers that there are now a number of proposals to make the changes permanent. Just this week, President Trump signed an executive order that would permanently extend some of those policies...But a pair of new studies published this week show that there are barriers to virtual visits that regulatory changes alone can’t fix...READ MORE

The state joins New York and Minnesota in providing COVID-19 vaccination access through pharmacy...New Hampshire has passed into law authorization for pharmacists to administer vaccinations for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)...once it becomes available...READ MORE

The Trump administration is taking steps to give telehealth a broader role under Medicare, with an executive order that serves as a call for Congress to make doctor visits via personal technology a permanent fixture of the program...The order President Donald Trump signed...applies to one segment of Medicare recipients — people living in rural communities. But administration officials said it’s intended as a signal to Congress that Trump is ready to back significant legislation that would permanently open up telehealth as an option for all people with Medicare...READ MORE