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Johnson & Johnson said...it is recalling around 33,000 bottles of baby powder in the United States after U.S. health regulators found trace amounts of asbestos in samples taken from a bottle purchased online...The move marks the first time the company has recalled its iconic baby powder for possible asbestos contamination, and the first time U.S. regulators have announced a finding of asbestos in the product. Asbestos is a known carcinogen that has been linked to deadly mesothelioma...READ MORE

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to require direct price negotiation between the federal government and the pharmaceutical sector would reduce Medicare drug spending by $369 billion over a decade...drugmakers are likely to push back by raising list prices and reducing research and development spending, which in turn could lead to a reduction in the number of new drugs coming to market...Drugmakers...saying price controls would extend to the private sector and reduce industry revenue by as much as $1 trillion over 10 years...READ MORE

Physician-pharma rep engagement declined significantly over the past year, with fewer in-person meetings responsible for the bulk of the drop...Physicians are seeing fewer pharma sales reps than ever, which likely isn’t a surprise. But what might raise some eyebrows is the fact that digital contact by reps isn’t taking up the slack...Instead, doctors are searching for drug and treatment information online and on their own. Close to half of doctors say they never have a question for a rep that they can’t find the answer to online...READ MORE

As Purdue restructures its business in hopes of signing a multibillion-dollar opioid settlement...Thousands of local and state plaintiffs are fighting Purdue’s attempt to halt litigation as it undergoes a court-supervised restructuring...As part of that deal...the Sacklers agreed to pay $3 billion of their own money while Purdue will reorganize as a public benefit trust...While the Sacklers’ rumored haul from Purdue and its bestselling opioid OxyContin over the years has varied...a restructuring consultant for Purdue, said the family transferred between $12 billion and $13 billion from the company...READ MORE

Nine widely-used medications have experienced substantial price surges over the past 2 years, adding $5.1 billion to overall drug spending during this time period...7 of these 9 drugs were found by the Institute of Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) to be lacking sufficient clinical evidence to support such price increases. Not only did adalimumab top the list of best-selling drugs last year, but the anti-inflammatory medication ranked first in terms of the most substantial price hikes from 2016 to 2018...READ MORE

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

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

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Facing a raft of talcum powder lawsuits nationwide, Johnson & Johnson has already been on the wrong side of big penalties in New Jersey and California. Two weeks after losing a case in the latter, J&J can take solace in notching another defense win...A Torrance, California, jury returned a defense verdict to J&J...in a lawsuit alleging the drugmaker’s talc products caused 60-year-old schoolteacher Carolyn Weirick to develop mesothelioma. The verdict followed a five-week retrial after an original jury failed to reach a decision...Despite...setbacks, J&J has emerged mostly unscathed from the talc litigation with no negative verdicts surviving appeals so far...READ MORE

Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.