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The number of drugs excluded from the three largest pharmacy benefit manager formularies reached an all-time high in 2023, despite concerns that profits are being put ahead of patient access. This year, CVS Caremark, Optum Rx and Express Scripts — which together handle 80% of all prescriptions in the United States — each have roughly 600 medications on their standard formulary exclusion lists...Exclusions leave patients with fewer options for treatment unless they can afford the out-of-pocket costs of buying drugs that are not covered by the insurer. What is even more disturbing are the trends within the trend of formulary exclusions, critics say,,,READ MORE

The biosimilar boom for provider-administered drugs continues to accelerate. Net prices in therapeutic classes with biosimilar competition have declined by 60% or more over the past few years. Some major biological reference products have now lost a majority of their unit sales to their biosimilars...this accelerating adoption also boosts profits for pharmaceutical wholesalers and specialty distributors—particularly when these channel participants can influence which biosimilar version a provider utilizes...READ MORE

Drugmakers have myriad tools in their arsenal when looking to grow sales. They can acquire marketed drugs, raise prices or focus on growing the reach of their existing medicines. But it's often new drug approvals that reign supreme and ultimately prove the worth of a company's development engine...covered in a recent Evaluate Vantage report, the team at Fierce Pharma took a close look at the recent approvals for 11 of the world's biggest drugmakers by revenue. Specifically, we're highlighting the dollar value of the industry's launches from the last five years and analyzing how the new meds fit into each company's overall portfolio...READ MORE

Americans love their vaccine makers. Cases in point? Moderna and Pfizer leaped into the top 10 best-regarded companies in the U.S. in the annual Axios Harris 100 survey…They’re the first biopharma companies to crack the top 10 in the ranking’s 20-year history. Johnson & Johnson, which counts pharma as one of its three divisions, has landed in the top 10 before; this year, it hit No. 72 on the list with a reputation score roughly the same as 2020’s…Meanwhile, Moderna ranked third, while Pfizer came in at No. 7 on the strength of its product and innovation scores, nabbing high marks for vision and culture along the way…READ MORE

The reference to “maximum fair price” in the act bodes poorly for manufacturers and suggests more of a take-it-or-leave-it situation rather than a negotiation where clinical evidence would be the prevailing factor in determining price...Now that the dust has settled over enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act, leaders across the industry should be taking stock and assessing how the law will impact their product portfolios and the bottom line. Although several open questions remain, pharmaceutical manufacturers can take actions to best position their organizations to either benefit from — or mitigate repercussions — of the new law. Specifically, executives should lay out strategies for addressing revenue optimization, evidence development planning and portfolio optimization...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

Discounted purchases under the program reached at least $38 billion in 2020. That figure is an astonishing 27% higher than its 2019 counterpart—and more than quadruple the value of discounted purchases in 2014…The 340B program’s size now exceeds the Medicaid program’s outpatient drug sales—and accounts for nearly 20% of the total rebates and discounts that manufacturers provide for brand-name drugs. Alas, many elements of the 340B program—including its controversial contract pharmacy component—lack a comprehensive regulatory infrastructure…READ MORE

Third quarter earning reports have brought news of layoffs from at least six biotechnology companies this week as a weak market continues to weigh on smaller drugmakers...Through Wednesday, Tricida, Freeline Therapeutics, Harpoon Therapeutics, Adamis Pharmaceuticals, Neoleukin Therapeutics and NexImmune have all announced workforce reductions. The cuts range from 30% of employees at NexImmune to 57% of staff at Tricida, putting scores of workers out of a job...READ MORE

A federal judge overturned a roughly $4.5 billion settlement that legally shielded members of the Sackler family who stand accused of helping fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, a decision that threatened to upend the bankruptcy reorganization of their company, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP...U.S. District Judge...said...the New York bankruptcy court that approved the settlement did not have authority to grant the Sacklers the legal protection from future opioid litigation that formed the linchpin of Purdue’s reorganization...READ MORE

Moderna is hard at work ramping up production of its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, which is projected to reap over $19 billion for the company by year’s end. But given that the pandemic is easing in parts of the world, what’s less certain is how 2022 will play out…After a breakout year, Moderna sees strong reason to believe 2021 won't be a one-off boom year. That's thanks to the predicted need for booster shots and additional supply deals coupled with stronger pricing power…READ MORE