- Nevadans will pay more for Obamacare plans, but it could have been much worse (reviewjournal.com)
It may not feel like it, but Nevadans who get their health insurance courtesy of the Affordable Care Act can consider themselves relatively lucky as 2017 comes into focus...Yes, they will pay an average of 11 percent more in premiums for their coverage than they did this year. And, yes, many will only be able to pick from plans offered by a single insurer...But it could have been far worse. Proof lies just across the border in Arizona, where some premiums are skyrocketing by triple digits and most insurers have fled the market...A new federal report on insurance premium prices released earlier this week and a county-level analysis published...by the Associated Press and consulting firm Avalere Health painted a comprehensive picture of the state of ACA health care insurance entering 2017...It wasn’t pretty...report by the Department of Health and Human Services showed that premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent in 2017 across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, including Nevada...HHS officials noted that a majority of those who purchase plans through HealthCare.gov and its state-run counterparts – including Nevada’s Silver State Health Insurance Exchange — receive financial assistance and may not see their out-of-pocket expenses increase much, if at all. It may not feel like it, but Nevadans who get their health insurance courtesy of the Affordable Care Act can consider themselves relatively lucky as 2017 comes into focus.
- How pharma is using Twitter to connect with patients (biopharmadive.com)
Pharma Twitter is not like your Twitter. Your Twitter probably isn't closely regulated by the FDA. Your Twitter presumably is not monitored by dozens of interest groups with competing agendas. Your Twitter probably existed well before Pharma Twitter, because pharma companies are notoriously slow to take up new technology. Your Twitter probably has a lot more interesting and relevant stuff. But if you are looking for a job or a clinical trial, then pharma's corporate Twitter feeds may be just the place for you...it's not easy for pharma to use Twitter. If a company is going to tweet about a drug, FDA regulations require the company to include the product name, indication, its most pressing risks and a link to an explanation of risks – all in the 140-character confines. For this reason, many companies shy away from product promotion on the platform...Here's a closer look at some of the best-known pharma names on Twitter:….
- Chicago’s proposal to license pharma sales reps is “bad morality, bad economics,” critic says (bizjournals.com)
Pharmaceutical sales representatives working in Chicago might soon have to carry a special license to operate within the city limits...city officials have proposed an ordinance that would require pharmaceutical reps to record and report to the city the number of health care professionals they've contacted, the types of drugs promoted, any samples provided, and if doctors were paid for their time...The ordinance might also require sales reps reps to keep a list of names of doctors they've contacted and potentially give those names to the city if requested. The new licensing requirements are part of a broader effort to fight prescription opioid abuse…The proposed pharmaceutical sales rep license would likely carry a $750 annual fee, the Tribune reported. In addition to the new reporting requirements, sales reps also would have to take city-certified training classes on prescription drug abuse, ethics and marketing standards...The...ordinance...would generate another stream in the flow of occupational licensing fees that go into city coffers...The city is looking for money, if I had to guess…
- Those risk disclosures on drug websites? People don’t read them, study says (fiercepharma.com)
Consumers don’t always read the risk information on branded drug websites--even though they say they do, according to new eye-tracking research from the University of Tennessee. Risk disclosures are a hot-button issue in pharma marketing, with some critics accusing brands of downplaying the risks and marketers contending that they follow the rules laid out by the FDA...The key finding? Even though 80% of the participants said they read half or more of the website information, they actually read much less than that and had limited recall of the drug’s risks. Further, the study found consumers focused on the drug’s benefit and generally ignored the risks... Mariea Hoy, who fielded the research...presented the findings to the FTC and has shared the same information with the FDA, also offered some suggestions on how to get people to read more drug risk information, Pharma companies should try to identify why people aren’t reading the risks, she said. Are they trying to avoid negative information? Do they think they already know the risks? Do they discount the risks for themselves, with the it-won’t-happen-to-me mindset known as "optimum bias?"...
- This Week in Managed Care: October 28, 2016 (ajmc.com)
Sara Belanger With The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- FDA issues guidelines for female libido pills after learning some hard lessons (statnews.com)
After a two-year wait, the US Food and Drug Administration finally issued new guidance for companies that want to develop drugs to bolster female libidos. But the details suggest the agency has belatedly learned some hard-fought lessons following complaints that the controversial Addyi pill did not warrant approval last year...The 15-page draft guidance...offers a typical how-to for companies, but also points to certain steps that Sprout Pharmaceuticals did not follow as part of its Addyi marketing application...The drug, which is now sold by Valeant Pharmaceuticals, was approved despite debate over its safety and effectiveness, and the extent to which medicines should be used to treat female sexual dysfunction...the FDA is locking the barn door after the horse got out. So now, the agency is telling other companies to do some things that Sprout didn’t do...they’ve made it harder to get a drug approved but they have extended helping hands in numerous places...unless [a company] really looks hard for subgroups [of patients], the whole effort is hopeless...
- This Week in Managed Care: October 21, 2016 (ajmc.com)
Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care, From the Managed Markets News Network.
- Pharmacy Week in Review: October 28, 2016 (pharmacytimes.com)
Kelly Walsh, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- Inside big pharma’s fight to block recreational marijuana (theguardian.com)
Pharma and alcohol companies have been quietly bankrolling the opposition to legal marijuana, raising questions about threats to market share...Marijuana legalization will unleash misery on Arizona, according to a wave of television ads that started rolling out across the state last month...the surprise lies in who is backing them. In August, the pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics also cited concerns for child safety when, with a $500,000 contribution, it became the largest donor to Arizona’s anti-legalization drive. But their stated concerns have raised a few eyebrows across the state. Insys manufactures Subsys, a prescription painkiller derived from fentanyl…critics say, the Insys contribution in Arizona is a ploy to protect market share. And it mirrors other large donations to anti-marijuana campaigns by pharmaceutical and alcohol companies that fear the growing clout of legal marijuana...Research conducted...shows that medical cannabis patients are substituting cannabis for pharmaceuticals at a very high rate, and for alcohol at a pretty high rate as well...Opiate overdoses dropped by roughly 25% in states that have legalized medical marijuana compared to states that have prohibited sales of the plant, according to a 2014 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study implies that people could be using medical marijuana to treat their pain rather than opioid painkillers, or they’re taking lower doses...
- Treat pharma as a utility, and 10 other ways states can lower drug prices (statnews.com)
...a group of state health policy makers is offering some novel — and also some familiar — suggestions...These include regulating the pharmaceutical industry as a utility, allowing states to operate as pharmacy benefit managers and waiving some provisions of the Medicaid program...the National Academy for State Health Policy also recommends that states pursue laws that require more transparency from drug makers. And the organization floated some timeworn proposals, such as importing medicines from Canada and prosecuting drug makers for violating consumer protection laws that protect against predatory pricing monopolies..."The proposals in this paper require more dialogue, debate, development, and experimentation. These policy proposals may not be appropriate for all states or agencies, nor for every pharmaceutical product," the working group wrote. "But states need to act and this paper presents a toolbox of options to consider."... the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America, the industry trade group. A spokeswoman wrote us to say that "many of the solutions proposed by the Work Group would harm patients and limit their access to life-saving treatments. We hope to begin a dialogue with the National Academy for State Health Policy on solutions that will help states better manage and predict costs while preserving patient access...