- NHS has started planning for Brexit no deal (reuters.com)BMA votes to oppose Brexit “as a whole” and calls for public final say on deal (bmj.com)
Britain’s public health service has started “significant planning” to ensure medicines are still supplied to patients if the government fails to negotiate a Brexit deal with the European Union, its head said on Sunday...Simon Stevens, chief executive of the National Health Service, said Britain’s health department was working with pharmaceutical companies to make sure there will be no breakdown in supply if there is no deal with the EU...The EU warned Britain again last week that time was running out for Prime Minister Theresa May to negotiate a deal and stop the country from crashing out of the bloc...
- This Week in Managed Care: June 29, 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
- U.S. Health Regulators OK Marijuana-Based Drug for Seizures (ktvn.com)
The Food and Drug Administration approved the medication, called Epidiolex (cannabidiol), to treat two rare forms of epilepsy (Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Dravet Syndrome) that begin in childhood. But it's not quite medical marijuana...British drugmaker GW Pharmaceuticals studied the drug in more than 500 children and adults with hard-to-treat seizures, overcoming numerous legal hurdles that have long stymied research into cannabis...FDA officials said the drug reduced seizures when combined with older epilepsy drugs...The FDA has previously approved synthetic versions of another cannabis ingredient for medical use, including severe weight loss in patients with HIV...Epidiolex is essentially a pharmaceutical-grade version CBD oil, which some parents already use to treat children with epilepsy. CBD is one of more than 100 chemicals found in marijuana...it doesn't contain THC, the ingredient that gives marijuana its mind-altering effect...Physicians say it's important to have a consistent, government-regulated version...
- China lectures United States on opioid crisis – China hits back after its suppliers blamed (channel4000.com)
A top official in China's drug control agency has hit back at accusations that Chinese suppliers are fueling the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States, arguing that Washington should pay more attention to domestic factors before pointing fingers at others..."It's common knowledge that most new psychoactive substances have been designed in laboratories in the United States and Europe, and their deep-processing and consumption also mostly take place there," said Liu Yuejin, deputy chief of China's National Narcotics Control Commission..."The US should adopt a comprehensive and balanced strategy to reduce and suppress the huge demand in the country for fentanyl and other similar drugs as soon as possible," said Liu, whose comments coincided with the release of China's annual drug situation report.
- Controversial Medicaid Policy Change Proposal Being Amended After Public Feedback (ktvn.com)
A policy change proposal that could affect Medicaid's behavioral health patients drew plenty of public opposition...The policy would require prior authorization for Neurotherapy and Psychotherapy Medicaid patients to demonstrate medical necessity before they receive treatment...The Department of Health and Human Services and the Division of Health Care Financing and Policy held a workshop to hear feedback from the public about their proposal. The department says they are now revising this policy proposal, after hearing those concerns...Officials said this policy would help both the most vulnerable patients as well as the administrative staff; but opponents strongly disagreed...
- Amazon shakes up drugstore business with deal to buy online pharmacy PillPack (cnbc.com)
Amazon is acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that is already shaking up the drugstore industry...The move is the strongest indication yet of Amazon's intent to push further into the health-care industry. It threatens to remove one of the few distinguishing factors pharmacy chains have relied on to fend off Amazon, the sale of prescription drugs. Retailers like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Rite Aid have seen their so-called front of store sales threatened as shoppers increasingly buy household staples online or from convenience stores...PillPack, which organizes and delivers packages of medications for consumers, is licensed to ship prescriptions in 49 states...Terms of the deal with Amazon were not disclosed, though people familiar with the matter told CNBC that Amazon paid roughly $1 billion. The companies expect it to close during the second half of the year...
- Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce hopes to offer members health insurance (reviewjournal.com)
The Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce would like to get back into the health insurance business...Such a move became more likely...when the Trump administration announced a rule that would let small businesses or associated groups band together to purchase what are known as association health plans. The U.S. Department of Labor said the move will enable groups that share a commonality — such as an industry or geographic location — to obtain more affordable coverage...the chamber, which represents about 3,000 local businesses, released a statement Tuesday saying it would like to re-establish an association health plan for its members, something it offered for 30 years before the ACA was enacted...CEO Mary Beth Sewald said of the plan that was offered through Health Plan of Nevada and covered around 20,000 people. “We were able to get a robust health plan package at an affordable cost.”...Sewald said the Metro Chamber of Commerce members are eager for coverage...“I think this is going to have an extraordinary impact.”...
- Big Pharma abandons lawsuit over Nevada’s insulin pricing transparency law after state approves trade secret protection regulations (thenevadaindependent.com)Nevada Addresses SB 539’s Most Significant Flaws (phrma.org)
Two national drug lobbying organizations dropped a lawsuit Thursday challenging the constitutionality of Nevada’s first-in-the-nation insulin pricing transparency law a little less than a month after the state approved regulations allowing drug companies to protect certain information they turn over to the state from public disclosure...Attorneys representing two associations and the state agreed in a joint court filing that the newly adopted regulations resolve drug companies’ concerns that the new law would require manufacturers of diabetes drugs to disclose trade secret-protected information in conflict with federal law and in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The decision to abandon a legal fight comes nine months after the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization challenged the law in U.S. District Court.
- June 29 Pharmacy Week in Review: National HIV Testing Day, Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Linked With Multiple Sclerosis, (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.
- Amid Opposition, Rite Aid Issues Shareholder Plea To Vote For Albertsons Deal (forbes.com)
Rite Aid executives issued an unusually lengthy plea for shareholders to vote in favor of its merger with Albertsons amid opposition by some investors who’ve been trying to derail the deal...Before shareholders is a $24 billion merger with grocery store giant Albertsons announced in February that would result in Rite Aid shareholders owning about 30% of the combined new company. The combination of Rite Aid, which operates RediClinic, and Albertsons would create a company with 319 health clinics and 4,345 pharmacies after the merger closes...Some investors were upset that senior executives will be paid retention bonuses even if the deal falls through. Others were upset that Rite Aid isn’t getting a higher price, especially as pharmacy benefit managers are suddenly an acquisition target and shareholders see value in Rite Aid’s PBM, EnvisionRxOptions, which has been growing rapidly...