- Tech-focused Takeda pilots Apple Watch trial to collect depression data (fiercepharma.com)
Wearable tech is increasingly making its way into pharma, and Takeda is welcoming the trend with open arms. Most recently, the Japanese drugmaker partnered with digital health tools venture Cognition Kit to collect active and passive patient data for a deep dive on depression...Each person in the just-launched pilot study will wear an Apple Watch that will passively collect physical activity data all day, while three separate prompts throughout the day will remind the patients to complete cognitive and mood assessments...Results from the study, which are expected in the first half of the year, will look at the wearable mood and cognition measurements, along with compliance, and compare the findings to more traditional examinations and patient-reported assessments... This collaboration is part of our strategy to embrace new technology to better understand the patient experience and assist healthcare professionals in creating improved patient care pathways...
- India wants to sell low-cost drugs in Trump’s America, but quality questions persist (fiercepharma.com)
India’s largest drugmakers are making a case that the U.S. should import cheap Indian-made drugs to hold down healthcare costs, and partner with its pharma leaders to develop inexpensive biosimilars. But Indian pharma companies have a less-than-stellar track record with the FDA on manufacturing quality, and that is casting a cloud over the country’s efforts to partner with President Donald Trump as he pushes to lower drug prices...The Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance made its viewpoints on drug importation clear in a report released recently...The organization...suggested the U.S. would save more by importing inexpensive drugs than it would by boosting domestic manufacturing in an effort to create jobs.
- This Week in Managed Care: March 3, 2017 (ajmc.com)
Laura Joszt, assistant managing editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- Deadly, Drug-Resistant ‘Superbugs’ Pose Huge Threat, W.H.O. Says (nytimes.com)
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that a dozen antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” pose an enormous threat to human health, and urged hospital infection-control experts and pharmaceutical researchers to focus on fighting the most dangerous pathogens first...Many consider the new strains just as dangerous as emerging viruses like Zika or Ebola...the...European Center for Disease Prevention and Control estimated that superbugs kill 25,000 Europeans each year; the C.D.C. has estimated that they kill at least 23,000 Americans a year...New antibiotic candidates are in short supply...because 70 years of research have made it harder to find new ones, and because they are not very profitable for pharmaceutical companies...In the United States, although constant vigilance is crucial, the problem has actually declined in the last decade...
- 3 Reasons Why USP Supports Pharmacist Health Care Provider Status Legislation (ncpanet.org)
For people living in rural areas of the U.S., access to health care providers can be a serious challenge. Pharmacists can be part of the solution. And in a welcome show of bipartisanship, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are co-sponsoring legislation that can help...The Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act...would include pharmacists on the list of recognized health care providers that can be reimbursed by Medicare for providing much needed patient care in underserved areas. USP supports this legislation as a major step forward in improving health care. Here are three reasons why:
- Pharmacists are highly trained health care professionals
- Pharmacists are easily accessible to patients
- Pharmacists improve health care
- Speakers ask Nevada legislators not to reduce mental health funding (reviewjournal.com)
As lawmakers began a detailed review of the state mental health budgets on Friday, speakers asked them not to cut services to the mentally ill, but rather to reinvest the money where critical needs continue to exist...a Joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee took a look at the funding proposals for mental health services, which are proposed to see some state general fund spending reductions in the coming two years...Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, state general fund support would decrease from $93 million in the current budget to $83 million in the new spending plan, with the loss of 38 staff...Northern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, the general fund budget reduction is from $32 million to $26 million with the loss of 56 positions...Officials with the Division of Public and Behavioral Health told lawmakers that funding for mental health programs is increasing, but services being provided from the state general fund are being shifted to the Medicaid program with an expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid costs are shared by the state and federal governments...Private sector psychiatric hospitals are also being built to provide treatment to the mentally ill because many are now Medicaid eligible and do not have to be treated in state-funded hospitals...
- Pharmacy Week in Review: March 3, 2017 (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Crisano, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- Lawmakers Introduce Prescription Drug Importation Bill to Ease High Costs (pharmacytimes.com)
Senators Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Bob Casey introduced a new bill this past week that would allow the importation of prescription medications from licensed Canadian pharmacies. The legislation, named the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act, would permit the United States to import medications from Canada, where drug spending is significantly lower…The bill outlines importation provisions including safeguards and consumer protections, such as FDA certification of foreign sellers, a clear definition of what drugs may be imported, and supply chain security requirements. Imported drugs must have the same active ingredient, route of administration, and strength as its US-approved counterpart...Previous importation proposals have been shot down due to safety concerns, but supporters of the new bill note added safety measures…Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America released a statement condemning prescription drug importation, due to the potential of counterfeit drugs entering the United States that could put American patients at risk...Even drugs that supposedly come from Canada are frequently not made or processed there, but actually come from counties with lax regulatory systems.
- Industry’s rare disease moves pay off (epvantage.com)
The pharmaceutical industry’s growing interest in orphan disease shows no sign of diminishing, and for good reason. The increased R&D investment in these indications in recent years has translated into a growing share of overall pharmaceutical sales...The drivers of this change include the favourable regulatory treatment of orphans, as well as market exclusivity and pricing advantages that make such drugs much more profitable than non-orphans. It is notable that the top 25 non-oncology orphan drugs in 2022 are expected to show a compounded growth of 18% over the next six years, almost three times the wider market average...Orphans...remain one of the brightest spots of pharmaceutical development, and the legislation framing them is widely claimed to have been a great success in public policy terms. However, there is a risk that before long orphans could face the same sort of pricing pressure as is common in non-orphan indications...
- Obamacare plans’ drug spending rose faster than other plans in 2016: Express Scripts (in.reuters.com)
Spending on prescription drugs for health plans created under the Affordable Care Act increased last year at a rate more than three times that of other commercial plans and most government-run plans managed by Express Scripts Holding Co...year-over-year spending per person for individual insurance plans sold on the Obamacare exchanges where it manages the pharmacy benefit rose 14 percent in 2016, driven by higher drug prices and utilization...Express Scripts said per-capita spending for other commercial plans it manages, mostly for employers, rose just 3.8 percent last year, despite an 11 percent increase in list prices for brand-name drugs...Drug spending for plans the company manages under Medicare...increased 4.1 percent last year while the rise for Medicaid...was 5.5 percent.