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The Nevada Independent filed a lawsuit...against the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services seeking access to a number of records related to the state’s 2017 diabetes drug pricing transparency law...The Independent filed two records requests this year seeking copies of annual reports submitted by diabetes drug companies and the drug pricing middlemen who help sell them to the state…The annual reports are required to explain how and why a drug price spikes over time...But the state has denied much of both requests on the grounds that such information is exempt from state public records law because of a federal trade secret law...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

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.

Canada’s main pharmaceutical (IMC) lobby group has urged the government not to wait for drug shortages before responding to U.S. plans to import Canadian drugs…the Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it would allow U.S. states and other groups to start pilot programs importing cheap drugs from Canada in an effort to lower drug costs...“Wholesalers should not be permitted to export drugs in bulk from Canada, and there should be strict and significant penalties for exporting drugs where their export is prohibited by law,”...“reliance on reactive measures after shortages occur may pose a risk to Canadian patients.”...READ MORE

The Trump Administration's Department of Health and Human Services has officially proposed legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada...Canadians’ reactions provide an important perspective demonstrating why drug importation will harm the U.S...Despite assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadians are worried that the U.S. proposal will impose severe costs on Canadians. Their concerns are well founded. Typical of their reaction, the Canadian Pharmacists Association has noted that...the Canadian medicine supply is not equipped to support both Canadian and U.S. consumers, and will make existing drug shortages in Canada even worse, disrupting patients’ access to their medications. Drug shortages have ‘greatly increased’ in the last 3-5 years according to a newly released survey of Canadian pharmacists...READ MORE

McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., and AmerisourceBergen Corp. have proposed paying $10 billion to settle claims they helped to fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic — the first sign of progress in resolving state lawsuits against the drug distributors…The companies, which deliver the majority of prescription medications to U.S. pharmacies, made the verbal proposal as part of talks with a group of state attorneys general...Whether the distributors and attorneys general can agree to a deal remains uncertain...READ MORE

In another sign of growing impatience with the high cost of prescription drugs, bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House that would limit pharmaceutical companies’ ability to delay the entry of generic drugs into the market...The Terminating the Extension of Rights Misappropriated Act targets the practice of “evergreening,” in which pharmaceutical companies make minor changes to a drug and file a new patent on those miniscule modifications in order to extend their exclusivity and maintain high prices...READ MORE

A shortage of a versatile medicine used to treat immune disorders and other diseases has forced U.S. hospitals and infusion clinics to suspend treatment for many patients... many hospitals and infusion clinics have received less immune globulin, or IG, than they need. Some have started to ration it, prioritizing it for patients who need it to stay alive and canceling infusions for patients deemed to have non-life-threatening conditions. The shortage has gotten to an acute status...READ MORE

Dennis Killian, PharmD, PhD, Director of Pharmacy Services, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury, MD, discusses techniques to optimize the use of IV robotics in a hospital pharmacy setting. (video)

...Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...said it has finalized a decision to cover expensive cancer cell therapies sold by Gilead Sciences Inc and Novartis AG...CMS...said it will cover the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved therapies when provided in healthcare facilities that have programs in place to track patient outcomes...The nationwide decision clears up “a lot of confusion” about coverage and will help patients get access to the novel therapies...CMS Administrator Seema Verma said...READ MORE