- Eli Lilly wants court to halt HRSA from issuing penalties over 340B contract pharmacy moves (fiercehealthcare.com)
Eli Lilly is asking a federal court to stop the federal government from imposing any penalties over its decision to restrict sales of 340B-discounted products to contract pharmacies...The request for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order...comes less than a week after the Health Resources and Services Administration wrote to Lilly and five other drug companies over the contract pharmacy restrictions...The injunction and order show that drug companies appear likely to fight HRSA’s order to immediately offer 340B-discounted drugs to contract pharmacies, which are third-party entities that dispense drugs on behalf of the 340B covered entities...READ MORE
- Nevada’s drug transparency program could get two years of funding as lawmakers consider expanding its scope (thenevadaindependent.com)
Four years after passing the state’s first drug transparency law, lawmakers may finally put dollars behind the effort as they continue to build upon the original legislation this session...Members of the Senate Finance Committee this week considered a $780,000 fiscal note from the Department of Health and Human Services on the latest drug transparency bill, SB380, which would allow state health officials to transfer the existing drug transparency database to the state’s Enterprise Information Technology Services Division, where it would live and be maintained moving forward. It also would allow the state to hire a pharmacist to manage the drug transparency program and a management analyst to assist with the program’s facilitation...READ MORE
- CVS adding 14 new markets to its Project Health preventive screening program (fiercehealthcare.com)CVS Health launches $100M digital health investment fund (fiercehealthcare.com)
CVS Health is expanding its program to offer no-cost, community-based screenings to 14 more markets...Project Health, which is now in its sixteenth year, offers a slew of free biometric screenings at CVS Pharmacy locations, including blood pressure, glucose levels and cholesterol. Patients can then meet with a nurse practitioner, who can provide additional guidance and referrals for treatment if needed...The program is also launching four new mobile units, CVS said, and anticipates providing 1,700 screening events across its 32 markets by the end of the year...READ MORE
- Speak up, docs: Bayer’s ‘AMI’ voice assistant talks prescription drug info for physicians (fiercepharma.com)
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
- Lawmakers aim to move ‘very quickly’ to pass bill mandating electronic prior authorization for MA plans (fiercehealthcare.com)
Lawmakers behind the Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act...not only requires electronic prior authorization for MA plans, but also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to create a process for faster decisions on items and services that commonly get approved...While the bill only applies to MA plans, lawmakers hope to eventually tackle more types of insurance such as commercial plans...READ MORE
- Lawmakers seek greater oversight of billions in opioid settlement funds projected for the state (thenevadaindependent.com)
A few state lawmakers are hoping to establish greater legislative oversight over how the state spends billions of dollars in opioid settlement funds projected to be won by the attorney general in litigation throughout the next decade...SB390, a bill presented by Sen. Julia Ratti (D-Sparks) and sponsored by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, would create a state fund to house proceeds from opioid settlements, such as the $45 million Nevada is set to receive from the settlement of a lawsuit against consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which provided services for opioid manufacturers...READ MORE
- FDA orders shutdown at Emergent’s troubled plant 2 weeks after handing J&J the keys (fiercepharma.com)
Johnson & Johnson’s takeover of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing at an error-prone Emergent BioSolutions plant in Baltimore didn’t last long...Two weeks after the U.S. stepped in and handed control of vaccine manufacturing at the plant to J&J, Emergent agreed to temporarily halt producing new drug substance there...READ MORE
- Six Trends to Watch in the New Healthcare Economy (drugchannels.net)
The pace of innovation, the rise of consumerism, an aging population, and the movement toward price transparency means healthcare companies must become more agile and insightful than ever. Six trends have emerged as the top issues affecting healthcare businesses today...READ MORE
- LEVERAGING BIG DATA
- SEEING DISRUPTION AS THE NORM
- EXPANDING THE ROLE OF PHARMACISTS
- FOCUSING ON TELEHEALTH AND DIGITAL CARE MODELS
- AGING POPULATION PRESSURING RETAIL PHARMACY
- ENGAGING PATIENTS TO IMPROVE ADHERENCE
- Moderna, Pfizer join the popular crowd, catapulting into the top 10 of America’s favorite companies (fiercepharma.com)
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
- COVID-19 Pandemic Causes Dramatic Shifts in Prescription Drug Spending (pharmacypracticenews.com)
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