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The main U.S. drug lobby has said it will push back against the legislation, which includes policies that drugmakers have opposed for decades...The pharmaceutical industry is gearing up to minimize the effect of major drug legislation passed by Congress on Friday, the first time in many years lawmakers have overcome the drug lobby’s opposition to limits on their pricing power...the House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act in a 220-207 party-line vote, sending the bill to President Joe Biden...The bill would allow Medicare to negotiate prices on up to 60 drugs by 2029...The pharma industry spent heavily to lobby against the bill and, after decades of forestalling action to curtail the industry’s pricing power in the U.S., its main lobbying group signaled the fight would continue...READ MORE

Should pharma reps keep wheeling their cases into doctors' offices? Maybe not. Video meetings are three times more effective than in-person interactions when it comes to driving new prescriptions...That’s according to a new report...which combed through data from 130 million quarterly field interactions across 80% of global biopharmas...It was an unexpected result: Video meetings, which have grown during the pandemic, work better than in-person meetings at getting new prescriptions filled. And digital leaders in the industry “are gaining an advantage using video calls up to three times a week,” the...report said...Why is video better? Partly because video meetings last longer...video calls tend to average 21 minutes, with reps using content in 85% of those meetings compared with 39% in person...READ MORE

Merck is suing the Biden administration to avoid potential fines for cutting off 340B contract pharmacies from getting discounted products...The pharmaceutical giant argues in a federal lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that favorable rulings in similar cases make a warning letter from the federal government moot. The lawsuit is the latest in a feud between the federal government and drugmakers over the 340B program...In 2021, Merck became among nearly 20 drugmakers that cut off sales of 340B-discounted drugs to contract pharmacies, which dispense the products on behalf of covered entities. Merck told 340B entities that if they do not join the company’s integrity program and submit claims-level data then it will no longer provide the drugs to contract pharmacies...READ MORE

Apparently, a $107 million deal value isn't large enough to be considered anticompetitive when viewed in the context of delaying generics to a blockbuster brand...A Delaware federal judge reached that conclusion when he threw out an antitrust claim targeting a pay-for-delay deal between AstraZeneca and generic maker Accord Healthcare over the British pharma’s popular antipsychotic Seroquel XR...But that was only a half-win for AstraZeneca in a class action suit. The judge has allowed another similar claim brought by drug wholesalers, retailers and payers against a separate deal that AZ originally signed with Handa Pharma and later passed on to Endo’s Par Pharmaceutical...Both claims allege that the “reverse payment” agreements AZ inked with those generic makers to settle Seroquel XR patent disputes delayed and suppressed competition, causing higher prices...READ MORE

...Republican and Democratic senators met with the chamber's parliamentarian to discuss whether the bill's proposal for Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs with manufacturers has a direct impact on government spending or tax revenue, as reconciliation rules require...But these are not negotiations. They're price controls. The bill's text sets maximum prices that the government will pay — and threatens confiscatory taxes for drug companies that refuse to comply...it will mean that fewer cutting-edge drugs are available to American patients...price controls on prescription drugs are unnecessary. Even as the price of just about everything else in our economy has soared in the past year, drug prices have been relatively flat...If lawmakers want to reduce patient drug costs meaningfully, they should train their focus on pharmacy benefit managers...PBMs keep a cut of the savings they extract and send another cut to the insurer, which may use that cut to lower overall premiums...READ MORE

Pharmacists say Georgia's evolving restrictions around access to abortion coupled with recent guidance from the federal government have created confusion over distribution of medication that can terminate pregnancies...The Biden administration earlier this month warned pharmacists nationwide that they are required to fill prescriptions for pills that can induce abortion. Refusing to give out the prescribed medication "may be discriminating" on the basis of sex or disability and could amount to a violation of federal civil rights laws...Bob Coleman, CEO of the Georgia Pharmacy Association, said the organization is working with national pharmacy associations to get clarity..."We understand that confusing and sometimes contradictory information is being shared," he said. "Unfortunately, the HHS guidance puts highly trained health care professionals...in a seemingly impossible situation."...Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a pharmacist, called the HHS message to his colleagues a "gross abuse of executive authority."..."There is no constitutional right to an abortion, and as such, there is no constitutional obligation for pharmacists to knowingly dispense drugs intended for an abortion," Carter said in a statement. "This administration has a habit of using health care professionals as political pawns, from vaccines to abortions, and that abuse must come to an end."...READ MORE

America’s economically disadvantaged patients can point in two directions when talking about what is wrong with the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which is designed to help hospitals caring for underserved communities — and the patients they treat — keep necessary medicines reasonably priced: large supposedly “nonprofit” hospitals and for-profit pharmacy benefit managers that serve as 340B contract pharmacies, which together divert billions of dollars in savings that should be helping patients in need...The problem is that the 340B program has become a slush fund for its other participants, the large, supposedly nonprofit hospitals and health systems. They buy drugs at steep 340B discounts, then charge insurers, the uninsured, and cash-paying patients a huge markup. The profits pad the hospitals’ bottom lines and provide ample capital to take over and consolidate local markets, particularly in cancer care. And the result is shockingly little charity care...READ MORE

A federal court recently exposed the rot at the heart of America's healthcare system...The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, partly revolved around the many low-income, and even middle-income, patients who receive "co-pay coupons" from drug manufacturers to help them cover their out-of-pocket costs at pharmacies...For many Americans, these coupons represent the difference between filling a prescription and going without lifesaving care. But in recent years, health insurers have started to effectively steal those coupons, leaving patients on the hook for far higher expenses. As Judge Carl Nichols noted in a May ruling, insurance companies "pocket for themselves at least some of the assistance."...Sadly, the practice is totally legal. And until lawmakers crack down on this sort of grossly immoral behavior, insurance behemoths and their allies will continue shifting costs onto patients, with disastrous consequences for individuals' health and society at large...READ MORE

Despite what you may have heard, pharmacy participation in the 340B Drug Pricing Program continues to thrive...Drug Channels Institute’s latest analysis reveals that an astonishing 32,000 pharmacy locations—more than half of the entire U.S. pharmacy industry—now act as contract pharmacies for the hospitals and other healthcare providers that participate in the 340B program. Over the past 12 months, the number of pharmacies in the program has grown by more than 2,000 locations...What’s more, five multi-billion-dollar, for-profit, publicly traded pharmacy chains and PBMs...account for three-quarters of all 340B contract pharmacy relationships with covered entities. Is this really what Congress intended when the 340B program was established in 1992?...The 340B Drug Pricing Program has become the second-largest government pharmaceutical program, based on net drug spending. But unlike such programs as Medicare Part D and Medicaid, 340B lacks a regulatory infrastructure, well-developed administrative controls, and clear legislation to guide the program...READ MORE

Watch out, pharma—the federal government has its eye on add-on drug patents that can lead to higher prices. In a new effort, the FDA and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) are teaming up to take a close look at patenting procedures...the PTO said it plans to crack down on patenting of “incremental, obvious changes to existing drugs that do not qualify" for new protections...The latest effort is the result of officials at the PTO and the FDA exchanging letters outlining their concerns about pharma patents. The joint work is set to expand their resources for patent regulation...READ MORE