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The COVID-19 pandemic heavily influenced U.S. spending for prescription drugs in 2020, according to ASHP's National Trends in Prescription Drug Expenditures and Projections for 2021...Shifts in care related to the pandemic will be a significant driver of drug expenditures in 2021, along with uptake in the use of biosimilars, a large pipeline of new cancer drugs and increased approvals of specialty medications...Prescription drug spending in 2020 grew at a moderate rate of 4.9% to $535.3 billion. Increased use drove the growth, which accounted for 2.9% of the total increase, according to the report. Spending on new drugs accounted for 1.8% of the increase, and price changes accounted for 0.3%...READ MORE

GlaxoSmithKline payments to doctors are on the rise again, as its relaxed payment policy continues. It notched a 40% increase from $11 million in 2017 to more than $15 million in 2019 in the U.S., likely reflecting its loosening of a formerly strict physician payment policy...The company's 2016 policy...banned direct payments to doctors speaking on behalf of the pharma and contributed to a hefty drop in payouts from $30.6 million in 2016 to $11 million the following year, according to data from the U.S. Open Payments database. GSK’s tally dropped even further in 2018 to $8.9 million before increasing in 2019...READ MORE

Three leaders from pharma ingredients and innovation firm Lonza share views on challenges and opportunities likely to face the industry in coming months...It likely is safe to say no professionals in drug development and manufacturing has a reliable crystal ball that can provide a crystal-clear picture of exactly what will happen in the coming 12 months. However, seasoned and savvy professionals can offer educated opinions, and advice on preparing for what might lie ahead...To get a clearer perspective on what 2021 might have in store for the pharma field, Outsourcing-Pharma (OSP) checked in with three Lonza executives, asking their thoughts on 2020 as well as the new year...READ MORE

While true innovation is still a rare currency in China, all but one of these 10 companies have attracted Big Pharma companies buying into their R&D...China has witnessed a biotech boom over the past decade. Many biotech entrepreneurs felt a calling to reshape the drug industry in a country that has long relied on generics with dubious quality, where demand is growing for more innovative drugs to improve treatment outcomes that can match China’s climbing economy...These so-called “sea turtles,” armed with top-notch training from foreign institutions and experience at large multinational biopharma companies, set up their own shops in the hope of creating the next blockbuster drugs out of China...READ MORE

BeiGene
Chi-Med
CStone Pharmaceuticals
Harbour BioMed
Hua Medicine
I-Mab Biopharma
Innovent Biologics
Junshi Biosciences
Legend Biotech
Zai Lab

AMI, pronounced as Amy, is Bayer's new voice assistant and chatbot that can talk to physicians about prescription drugs when they say, “Hey Google, talk to Bayer Pharmaceutical” on Google Home...An acronym for assistant for medical information, AMI is meant to offer quick, hands-free and on-demand information for busy healthcare professionals. Doctors can ask about prescribing information and other details for two oncology drugs, Nubeqa and Xofigo, and three women’s health products, Mirena, Kyleena and Skyla...Bayer is the first pharma to use voice technology to access medical information through Google Home and Google Assistant...READ MORE

A new Vizient report highlights trends in drug pricing for pharmaceutical products used across multiple health system settings...Drug price increases remain prevalent in the oncology and rheumatology therapeutic areas, while use of other high-cost drugs appears to have surged in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, the report also points to an overall trend toward moderation of price increases and the projected effects of biosimilar and generic competition in the marketplace...According to the report, Vizient projects a 2.67% increase in the price of pharmaceuticals purchased by health systems, academic medical centers, pediatric hospitals, and non-acute practices during this time frame...READ MORE

When it comes to influencers in pharma marketing, companies should skip trendy avocado toast and aerial yoga guru types and rely on lesser-known patient advocates—at least, according to data gathered by WeGo Health...Its recent network survey found that only 14% percent of the WeGo users surveyed mostly or completely trust lifestyle influencers, while 51% completely or mostly trust patient influencers. When it comes to branded pharma products, the survey was even more positive for patient influencers: 85% said they would be very or somewhat receptive to an ad from a patient influencer promoting a drug-related to the patient’s condition...READ MORE

For many, the sedative power of poppies was introduced by Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, galloping through flowers before falling fast asleep...Those blooms now provide raw materials for opioid painkillers used by the millions worldwide. But like the Wicked Witch of the West, who cast that poppy spell on Dorothy, the coronavirus pandemic has put a sleeper hold on the production of poppies for pharmaceutical use...The global demand for opium-based products plummeted last year as COVID forced the cancellation of most elective surgeries, and now, that diminished need for surgical pain relief products has forced Sun Pharma of India to reduce its number of contracted poppy growers in Tasmania and to eliminate two of its field officers...READ MORE

With Novavax and Johnson & Johnson data now in hand, the world has efficacy numbers on at least five COVID-19 vaccine programs. That's plenty for analysts to parse—and they're busy doing not only that, but also sizing up the market as the field of top players grows...The upshot? Blockbuster sales to go around, but Pfizer and Moderna will continue to lead the pack, partly thanks to their ability to quickly deploy mRNA against new variants. And for Moderna, at least, that means almost $14 billion in projected sales just this year from one team of analysts...READ MORE

Several years after saying the pharmaceutical industry was “getting away with murder,” President Donald Trump appears poised to unveil new drug pricing rules that could shake up U.S. pricing dynamics in a big way. But it remains to be seen exactly how the implementation will play out...Trump plans to unveil two major measures—an international pricing index and a rule to crack down on drug rebates...The international pricing index—also called the “most-favored-nations" clause—would tie U.S. prices in Medicare to lower prices abroad. The pharmaceutical industry has intensely resisted the proposal. Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, for one, characterized it as “horrible” policy, and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Ph.D., said the president’s summer executive orders on drug pricing were “an enormous distraction” amid the COVID-19 fight and threatened American jobs...READ MORE