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Drug utilization management such as prior authorization and stricter formularies cost the healthcare industry $93 billion annually, with patients bearing the largest share of the cost, a new study found...The study...found that intense use of drug utilization measures has led to patients spending $35.8 billion a year in cost-sharing...“All stakeholders in the U.S. pharmaceutical system would benefit from a de-escalation of utilization management, combining lower drug prices with lower barriers of patient access,”...READ MORE

...groups lobbying for lower prescription drug prices called on Congress to enact long-awaited reforms and stressed the urgency of the movement...Answering the call...the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted unanimously to advance four pieces of legislation which would help rein in the cost of prescription drugs...The new laws take particular aim at the tactics used by drug companies to extend patent protections and stifle competition from cheaper generic and biosimilar drugs. The legislation, which would enhance the Federal Trade Commission's ability to initiate enforcement actions against drug companies, now moves to the Senate floor for a vote...READ MORE

The Association for Accessible Medicines’ latest report found that Medicare Part D plans are slow to add new generics to their formularies and often place them on nongeneric pricing tiers...Medicare Part D plans are slower than commercial plans to adopt new generics, and even when adopted, the generics are less likely to be part of a generic cost tier. That’s according to a new report from the Association for Accessible Medicines that examines the speed of first generics entering formulary coverage for both Medicare Part D plans and commercial plans...READ MORE

Intermountain Healthcare will be shutting down 25 retail pharmacies and handing off their prescriptions and inventories to CVS Pharmacy beginning in August...Next month's closures target low-volume retail pharmacies in Utah, the Salt Lake City health system said...The companies stressed that the closures do not affect Intermountain’s hospital inpatient pharmacies...The nonprofit system will also be continuing its other pharmacy and medication services, including medication management and medication assistance and financial support. Home delivery pharmacy, specialty pharmacy and the retail pharmacy out of its Primary Children’s Hospital will also continue to be supported...READ MORE

Appealing a $448 million judgement in an antitrust case has ultimately paid off for AbbVie...the U.S. Federal Trade Commission withdrew its complaint that AbbVie used sham litigation in 2011 to illegally block generic competition for its testosterone drug AndroGel. While the agency still thinks AbbVie engaged in "anticompetitive conduct," an official said current laws don't support the agency's efforts to recoup money for consumers...READ MORE

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has halted registrations of U.S. initial public offerings by Chinese companies...The U.S. is saying that it is waiting for the Chinese government to disclose to investors the risks to investment with the Chinese government interfering in the businesses. The Chinese government has, according to Reuters, been reluctant “to submit to U.S. auditing standards and improve the governance of companies held closely by founders.”...READ MORE

...Johnson & Johnson's consumer health unit is recalling two popular brands on fears of contamination with a cancer-causing chemical...Citing "an abundance of caution," Johnson & Johnson is pulling all lots of five Neutrogena and Aveeno spray sunscreens after internal testing flagged low levels of benzene in certain samples. All products affected are aerosols, J&J said...The human carcinogen benzene is unavoidable, J&J pointed out. People encounter the chemical daily in gasoline, cigarette smoke, pesticides, plastics and more. Benzene can be toxic if swallowed, touched or inhaled and may lead to cancer based on the level and extent of exposure...Benzene isn't an ingredient in any of J&J's sunscreens. The company says it's launched an investigation to suss out the cause of the contamination...READ MORE

Johnson & Johnson notched a win...with a $50 million talc lawsuit rejected in Illinois—however, tens of thousands of cases are still pending...J&J recently reported 34,600 talc-related lawsuits have now been filed...The Illinois case, filed in 2018 by relatives on behalf of Elizabeth Driscoll who died from ovarian cancer in 2016, sought up to $50 million in damages. The...jury trial found in favor of J&J, ruling the pharma giant was not liable...READ MORE

Pfizer has issued a voluntarily recall for 12 lots of its anti-smoking drug Chantix (varenicline) due to the presence of a nitrosamine impurity exceeding the company’s established Acceptable Daily Intake level. As a result, the company is pausing distribution of Chantix and is accelerating its internal testing of the drug...The FDA stated N-Nitroso-varenicline is found within the nitrosamine class of compounds, and some of these compounds are either possible or probable carcinogens. “Long-term ingestion of N-nitroso-varenicline may be associated with a theoretical potential increased cancer risk in humans, but there is no immediate risk to patients taking this medication,” the FDA said...READ MORE

Britain's competition regulator has fined more than 10 drug firms a record combined 260 million pounds ($360 million) for overcharging the National Health Service for a steroid which rose from 70p to 88 pounds a pack in under eight years...The Competition and Markets Authority said...that the breaches meant the NHS paid over 10,000% more for single packs of 10 mg and 20 mg hydrocortisone tablets in 2016 than they were paying in 2008...The CMA said companies including Actavis, and its former parent and now Abbvie-owned Allergan, broke competition rules...READ MORE