Category:

Americans now view big pharma with more distaste than any other industry, according to a new Gallup poll...Just 27% of Americans regarded the pharmaceutical industry positively, compared with 58% who hold a negative view, the poll found. That resulted in a net rating of minus 31, compared with plus 4 just five years ago...Even the federal government — which many Americans love to hate — has a better reputation than the drug industry, which now ranks the lowest out of 25 industries considered by Gallup. More than 1,500 Americans living in all 50 states and the District Columbia were included in the group's poll...READ MORE

Purdue’s pending opioid settlement with thousands of cities and counties, worth between $10 billion and $12 billion, could rank as the largest deal ever inked by a pharma if it passes a Cleveland federal judge’s muster. But where do pharma’s other major settlements fall on that list?...READ MORE

Here’s the list of pharma’s top 10 largest U.S. settlements.

1. Purdue Pharma—$10 billion to 12 billion*
2. Merck & Co.—$4.85 billion
3. American Home Products Corp. (now Wyeth)—$3.75 billion
4. GlaxoSmithKline—$3 billion
5. Pfizer—$2.3 billion
6. Takeda—$2.3 billion
7. Johnson & Johnson—$2.2 billion
8. Abbott Laboratories—$1.6 billion
9. Eli Lilly—$1.42 billion
10. Reckitt Benckiser—$1.4 billion

A group of 23 Kentucky hospitals is suing major drugmakers, distributors and retailers for their role in the opioid epidemic just days after a group of Texas hospitals unveiled a similar suit...The civil lawsuit filed...in Warren County, Kentucky, alleges more than 40 major companies such as CVS Health, Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma along with individuals made actions that directly led to hospitals bearing the financial burden of caring for opioid victims. Kentucky is one of several states hit especially hard by the epidemic...The lawsuit said hospitals have had to add or modify services such as hiring additional security and providing more “specialized training for staff to accommodate the rapid rise in opioid-related illnesses,”...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

Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of the blockbuster painkiller OxyContin, reached a tentative settlement...with 23 states and more than 2,000 cities and counties that sued the company over its role in the opioid crisis…Under terms of a plan negotiated for months, the Sacklers would relinquish control of Stamford, Conn.-based Purdue Pharma and admit no wrongdoing. The company would declare bankruptcy and be resurrected as a trust whose main purpose would be producing medications to combat the opioid epidemic...If the deal becomes final, it would be the first comprehensive settlement in the broad effort to hold drug companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic...READ MORE

Canada’s main pharmaceutical industry lobby group, along with 16 of its member companies, filed a lawsuit...to block new regulations meant to lower patented drug prices, the second legal challenge to a new regime that could eventually reduce prices in the United States as well...Canada published the final regulations in August, despite heavy lobbying from drug companies, which stand to lose revenue as prices drop. The federal government estimates the new rules will save Canadian patients, employers and insurers, including governments, C$13.2 billion ($10 billion) over a decade...lawsuit was filed in federal court and led by Innovative Medicines Canada, which represents major drugmakers in Canada. It is separate from a lawsuit filed last month and focuses on federal patent law, arguing that Canada cannot use regulations to “fundamentally alter” the role of its federal drug price regulator...READ MORE

Laura Joszt, 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.

Genentech has called a truce with Taiwanese biosimilar firm JHL Biotech, which allegedly stole trade secrets to help it develop copycats to top-selling cancer drugs...The Roche unit said the settlement requires JHL “to abandon development of and destroy” all cell materials related to the cancer drug brands involved—namely Rituxan, Herceptin, Avastin and Pulmozyme—and stop using or sharing them in any way. To make sure JHL complies, Genentech has the right to unannounced checkups...JHL...posted, the Taiwanese firm “will reimburse Genentech for its legal fees and the cost of its investigation, but will not otherwise pay any damages.”...READ MORE

With greater patient access to CBD, pharmacists will need to be prepared to address potential drug interactions to help patients use these products safely. The FDA has issued numerous warning letters instructing various manufacturers to halt production of OTC CBD products since 2016...Regarding interactions, in vitro studies have illustrated multiple potential drug interactions for CBD. The lack of standardized products somewhat limits the ability to make definitive statements from available research, but there is evidence that CBD is an inhibitor of many CYP450 enzymes including 2D6, 3A4, and 3A5, as well as a potent p-glycoprotein inhibitor...Research also suggests CBD use enhances the effect of opiates, and exhibits other interactions with barbiturates, fluoxetine, sedatives, and antihistamines, as well as having synergistic effects with alcohol...READ MORE