- Six Michigan Doctors Charged in $464 Million Insurance and Opioid Scheme (nytimes.com)
Six Michigan doctors have been charged with insurance fraud and unnecessarily prescribing opioids to patients in a $464 million scheme, according to court documents...The 56-count indictment...named Dr. Rajendra Bothra...who owned and operated the Pain Center USA in Warren and Eastpointe, Mich., and the Interventional Pain Center in Warren. The other five doctors were employed by the clinics, which catered to patients with joint and spinal injuries...The doctors have been charged with submitting false claims...and diverting the proceeds to themselves...Prosecutors said the doctors submitted claims of $182.5 million to Medicare, $272.6 million to Medicaid and $9.2 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan...
- Bristol-Myers Squibb must face whistleblower suit claiming underpaid Medicaid rebates (fiercepharma.com)
Years after a former pharmacist sued Bristol-Myers Squibb and other companies for allegedly underpaying Medicaid rebates, a federal court rejected Bristol's attempt to escape the case...Pharmacist and lawyer Ronald Streck filed a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit against Bristol-Myers and other companies back in 2013, but later withdrew his claims against the other defendants. Now, his lawsuit alleges that BMS fraudulently manipulated its average manufacturer prices to underpay Medicaid rebates from 2007 to 2016...Pennsylvania federal judge Timothy Savage ruled last week that Streck "has alleged sufficient facts to state a false claims cause of action."...
- This Week in Managed Care: November 30, 2018 (ajmc.com)
Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- Medicine or vice? Socially screened funds struggle to define cannabis industry (reuters.com)
Is marijuana a medicine or a vice?..The $8 trillion U.S. socially responsible investment industry is grappling with that question as more states approve the recreational use of cannabis, pushing consumption closer to “sin” stocks like alcohol and tobacco that ethically focused investors avoid...No U.S. public companies are directly selling marijuana, but Canadian marijuana producers like Tilray Inc and Canopy Growth Corp are on U.S. exchanges...Marijuana is used to treat a range of conditions from epilepsy to migraines...There’s a lot of mixed feelings about cannabis, whereas with tobacco there’s a lot of consensus that tobacco is not safe in any amount...
- Walgreens, FedEx partner on next-day Rx delivery nationwide (drugstorenews.com)
Walgreens and FedEx are teaming up...The companies have launched Walgreens Express, a service that will provide next-day delivery nationwide, as well as same-day delivery in select markets...Patients who are enrolled in Walgreens text alerts will get a text message notification when their qualifying prescriptions are ready. They can then follow a process to choose to have their prescription delivered the next day for a $4.99 fee...Walgreens said most prescription orders are available to be delivered by the next business day, it said some prescription benefit plans and insurance plans do not allow home delivery, encouraging patients to talk to a pharmacist with any questions.
- Walmart and Aurobindo sued as litigation mounts over contaminated blood pressure drugs (fiercepharma.com)
Litigation is growing over tainted blood pressure medications with a class-action lawsuit now filed in Florida against Walmart and three drug companies that span the supply chain...In addition to the retailer, the lawsuit names Indian drugmaker Aurobindo, U.S. drugmaker ScieGen Pharmaceuticals and distributor Westminster Pharmaceuticals. It was filed in federal court in Florida against the four over the sale of irbesartan because the drug contained the impurity, N-nitrosodiethylamine...Hauppauge...and its distributor Westminster initiated a nationwide voluntary recall to the consumer level of all lots of unexpired irbesartan tablets because they had been made with the Aurobindo API and then shipped to Walmart. The FDA learned this summer that the suspected carcinogen...can show up in “sartan”-based drugs as a result of certain manufacturing processes...
- November 30 Pharmacy Week in Review: Trial Evaluating Effectiveness and Safety of Drugs Used to Treat Patients with Ebola (pharmacytimes.com)
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.
- No-deal Brexit disruption at UK ports could last up to six months – minister (reuters.com)
A no-deal Brexit could cause up to six months of disruption at some ports, a British minister warned...vowing to prioritise pharmaceuticals as the UK develops contingency plans less than four months before it is due to leave the EU...Health minister Matt Hancock wrote to drugs companies in August to ensure they had at least six weeks’ worth of medicines in Britain but on Friday he suggested any potential disruption could last longer...Britain is planning to use aeroplanes and fast-track trucks to ensure the continued supply of medicines if it leaves the European Union without a deal, Hancock said, and will give preference to medicines in the face of competing pressures.
- As state awaits data from diabetes drug manufacturers, initial report highlights price increases (thenevadaindependent.com)
Pharmaceutical companies are preparing to submit their initial reports detailing why rising prices of some diabetes drugs have outpaced medical inflation, giving state officials the first detailed look into the costs associated with a disease that affects about a tenth of Nevadans...Despite a protracted legal battle...pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to submit reports...to comply with a new diabetes drug transparency law… the state released a list of 175 so-called national drug codes...manufacturers...are required to submit reports to the state detailing the factors that contributed to the price increases...
- CVS Health Completes Acquisition of Aetna, Marking the Start of Transforming the Consumer Health Experience (cvshealth.com)CVS Completes $70 Billion Acquisition of Aetna (wsj.com)CVS-Aetna merger approved by New York regulators (nypost.com)
CVS Health...today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Aetna...“Today marks the start of a new day in health care and a transformative moment for our company and our industry,” declared CVS Health President and Chief Executive Officer Larry J. Merlo. “By delivering the combined capabilities of our two leading organizations, we will transform the consumer health experience and build healthier communities through a new innovative health care model that is local, easier to use, less expensive and puts consumers at the center of their care.”