- J&J continues facilities expansion in South Africa with public health operations (fiercepharma.com)
Just after opening a refurbished manufacturing facility in Cape Town, South Africa earlier this year, pharma giant Johnson & Johnson recently opened the doors to its Global Public Health Africa Operations office there...The company has invested $21 million (300 million rand) in the facilities. The global public health facility will focus on HIV, tuberculosis and maternal, newborn and child health..."This (investment) tells us that South Africa has the capability to provide a facility for world-class manufacturing," Rob Davies, minister of the Department of Trade...
- Walgreens combats drug abuse with installation of medication disposal kiosks across California (drugstorenews.com)
Walgreens...announced that it has installed 50 safe medication disposal kiosks in Walgreens drug stores across California, representing the first of two programs in California to combat drug abuse...By making safe medication disposal kiosks available in select California stores and expanding to other states this year, Walgreens is taking an important first step to curb the misuse of medications throughout the country...As a pharmacy, we are committed to playing a role in what must be a comprehensive solution to prevent prescription drug and opioid abuse…To kick off the launch of the safe medication disposal program in California, Walgreens will host a series of events with local lawmakers working to fight the drug abuse crisis in the state leading up to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 30…Walgreens also is working to make naloxone, a potentially lifesaving opioid antidote, available without requiring a prescription from an individual’s physician at California pharmacies. The medication is currently available with a prescription in California and can be used in the event of an overdose to reverse the effects of heroin or other opioid drugs, and is administered by injection or nasal spray.
- More drug makers are taking hefty price hikes on more drugs (statnews.com)
If you thought drug makers might hunker down in the face of public outrage over pricing, think again...Given the clamor over the cost of prescription drugs, most manufacturers were expected to avoid drawing attention to themselves by boosting price tags. But several companies have been hiking prices for their medicines at a rate that one Wall Street analyst found surprising...Johnson & Johnson took cumulative price hikes on more than a dozen drugs ranging from 5 percent to 28 percent. The biggest boost was for Simponi, which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Amgen raised prices on seven different drugs from 7.6 percent to 28 percent. The largest was for Enbrel, which is used to treat psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, among other ailments...Celgene increased price tags between 10.3 percent and 27.9 percent on four medicines, while Gilead Sciences raised prices between 10 percent and 16.5 percent on five drugs...Biogen boosted prices for five drugs anywhere from 9.8 percent to 18 percent; the biggest price hike was for the Tysabri multiple sclerosis treatment.
- UnitedHealth Group plans to remain in Nevada (reviewjournal.com)
UnitedHealth Group Inc., which announced...it would limit its participation to a handful of Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges in 2017, will remain in Nevada’s exchange...so far is expected to halt participation in exchanges serving Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan and Oklahoma, had expanded its participation to 34 states this year...the insurer had unfavorable experiences and performances in the individual exchange market, citing the smaller overall market size and shorter-term, higher-risk profile of clients as indicators they couldn’t effectively service the market...UnitedHealthcare and OptumCare both fall under the UnitedHealth Group umbrella, and in Nevada, the former includes Health Plan of Nevada, Senior Dimensions and Sierra Health and Life...OptumCare...is a separate company that includes Southwest Medical Associates...Before the official announcement of a United Health Foundation grant to UNLV early this month, Robert McBeath, president and CEO of Southwest Medical, described United as having a "significant commitment" to Nevada.
- Vaccines are among big pharma’s best-selling products (ft.com)
Ask people to name Pfizer’s best-selling product and many would opt for one of its most famous drugs: Viagra, for erectile dysfunction, or Lipitor, to reduce high cholesterol. People more familiar with the US pharma group might suggest a more recent blockbuster such as Lyrica, for pain...But they would all be wrong. The top-seller is not a drug but a vaccine: Prevnar, which prevents pneumonia, meningitis and other infections caused by pneumococcus bacteria...Prevnar generated revenues of $6.25bn last year — almost three times as much as Viagra. This was up 40 per cent from the year before...While vaccines play a big role in frontline healthcare, they are often an afterthought for a pharmaceuticals industry more focused on treating diseases than preventing them...There are several factors driving this growth. One is the expansion of immunisation programmes in newly industrialised countries such as China...In rich countries, growth relies on either finding more diseases to immunise against...or widening the reach of existing products...the complexity of vaccines, and the fact they are given to healthy individuals rather than to treat the sick, makes quality and reliability especially challenging. "The hurdles are a bit higher than in other parts of the pharma industry."
- MSC, SinfoníaRx team to bring patients on-demand pharmacist access (drugstorenews.com)
A new partnership between savings program company Medical Security Card’s ScriptSave WellRx app and medication management company SinfoníaRx will bring on-demand pharmacist access to users of the savings program app...ScriptSave WellRx app users can use a click-to-call feature that will connect them to one of SinfoníaRx’s on-call pharmacist, who will answer patients’ questions about their prescriptions, medication interactions and OTC drugs...Our ability to help patients by leveraging the latest technology makes this partnership with MSC a natural fit...Our companies share the same goal — to ensure patients follow their prescribed medication regimens to achieve better health outcomes. The ScriptSave WellRx app also gives patients the ability to reduce their out-of-pocket drug costs, which can be a huge barrier to medication adherence and improved health...SinfoníaRx's pharmacists bring an important component to ScriptSave WellRx, offering medication information to our members if they have a question about drug interaction, dosage or alternatives...
- Some Firms Save Money By Offering Employees Free Surgery (khn.org)
Lowe’s home improvement company, like a growing number of large companies nationwide, offers its employees an eye-catching benefit: certain major surgeries at prestigious hospitals at no cost to the employee...How do these firms do it? With "bundled payments," a way of paying that’s gaining steam across the health care industry, and that Medicare is now adopting for hip and knee replacements in 67 metropolitan areas, including New York, Miami and Denver...Here’s how it works: Lowe’s and other employers pay one flat rate for a particular procedure from any of a number of hospitals they’ve selected for quality, even if they are a plane ride away. And, under the agreement, the hospital handles all the treatment within a certain time frame — the surgery, the physical therapy and any complications that arise — all for that one price...It was Bob Ihrie, senior vice president for compensation and benefits at Lowe’s, who came up with the idea in 2010. When he told managers at other companies about it, he said, "The first question was always, ‘Oh, this is just for executives, right?’ And I said no, absolutely not, this is for any Lowe’s employee in the Lowe’s health care plans."
- Pharmacy Industry Healthcare Policy Trends (pharmacypodcast.com)
Latest Pharmacy Industry Healthcare Policy Update Review with Ron Lanton – Government Affairs Strategist for the Pharmacy Podcast Show and President of True North Political Solutions. (podcast 30 min)
- What’s California’s Prescription For Rising Drug Costs? (khn.org)
Hepatitis C drugs are not the only part of California’s troubling drug spending picture. Despite recent cost-cutting measures, such as putting tighter controls on which patients get coverage for which drugs and when, California’s spending on pharmaceuticals has gone up, and so has the number of pricey drugs it is covering. It’s not clear state agencies have the means to balance drug cost pressures in a way that serves the best interests of patients, taxpayers and public health...California voters are expected to decide in November on a measure to put a ceiling on what the state pays for drugs, and lawmakers have proposed drug price transparency requirements on pharmaceutical manufacturers and health insurers...Medi-Cal (Medicaid) says pharmaceutical costs are kept under control by a strong push toward generic drug use for the 10 million enrollees who get health services through health plans. Up to 95 percent of the prescriptions dispensed by these plans are lower-cost generics...The Department of Health Care Services, which manages Medi-Cal, says it has a 20-year practice of controlling drug costs by negotiating deep discounts with drugmakers...Health consumer advocates and economists argue that paying a lot for some drugs that only treat a limited population may not serve larger public health interests, or be the best use of taxpayer dollars...Are we going to have a sustainable (pharmaceutical) industry where we are making sure the drug companies make enough money where they can bring great new products to the marketplace, yet we control cost well enough that people — all people, even the most vulnerable, have access to the drugs they need?...State Medi-Cal administrators say it’s too soon to assess the sustainability of current prescription drug spending trends. If more high-cost drugs come on the market and treat small populations, it won’t have a major budget impact...
- Pharmacy Week in Review: April 22, 2016 (pharmacytimes.com)
Mike Glaicar, Business Development: Pharmacy Times...(PTNN) This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.