- American pharma group says IP protection in India is weak (fiercepharmaasia.com)
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, one of the top bodies representing American pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, said in an annual report that India's intellectual property rights protection is weak and the group added India to its "priority watch list."...The country's legal and regulatory systems "pose procedural and substantive barriers at every step of the patents process,"..."Not only is this a concern in the Indian market, but also in other emerging markets that may see India as a model to be emulated,"...since 2012 about 25 products "have had their patent rights undermined in India" and that "in 2015 alone, at least six products have faced issues due to the continued denial of applications" under India's patents act...PhRMA also said high tarrifs (tariffs) and taxes in India on APIs and finished products were a huge challenge for the industry and that India "collects more in taxes on pharmaceuticals than it spends on medicines."
- Walgreens launches two programs to help address opioid abuse (drugstorenews.com)DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg Statement on Walgreens’ Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative (dea.gov)
Walgreens...announced the launch of a new effort to combat drug abuse, introducing two programs that address contributors to the crisis.
- ...Walgreens will install safe medication disposal kiosks in more than 500 drug stores in 39 states and Washington, D.C., primarily at locations open 24 hours. The program will make the disposal of medications — including opioids and other controlled substances — easier and more convenient while helping to reduce the misuse of medications and the rise in overdose deaths.
- Walgreens also will make naloxone...available without a prescription at its pharmacies in 35 states and Washington, D.C., rolling out the program state-by-state throughout this year.
- Yale-New Haven Hospital picks smartphone app to streamline clinical staff communications (healthcareitnews.com)
Hospital says MH-CURE offers care teams secure, access to all clinical communications, pertinent patient information and lab data...Patient care teams at Yale-New Haven Hospital, looking for a faster, more efficient and more secure way to communicate with each other in the emergency room, have adopted smartphone applications to speed up workflows. Eventually, the hospital bucked its traditional methods, which included a public address system and a VOIP wireless phone system, turned to MH-CURE – for Clinical Urgent Response – a smartphone application from Waltham, Massachusetts-based Mobile Heartbeat...MH-CURE offers care teams secure, single smartphone access to all clinical communications, pertinent patient information and lab data. Care team members have a choice of using their own smartphone or sharing hospital-supplied devices. It consolidates clinical communications, including alarms and notifications, pertinent patient information, lab data, texting, voice and photography...Results revealed that the amount of time required for clinicians to locate and transmit information to one another was greatly reduced, allowing staff to spend more time with patients and thus provide better patient care...
- UFC donates $1M to Ruvo center for brain trauma study — VIDEO (reviewjournal.com)
In the fight against brain disease, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) is putting its money on the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health...The mixed martial arts organization...announced a $1 million donation over five years in support of the center's Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, which aims to understand the long-term effects of brain trauma...UFC Chief Operating Officer Ike Lawrence Epstein announced the donation....The goal of the study is not just to gather data on trauma but also to determine if brain damage can be detected early enough for intervention...CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is a degenerative brain disease found in people who have suffered repeated head trauma..."We're really pushing all of our athletes to make sure they come to this facility and get tested and be part of this study because that's the key to all of this," Epstein said.
- How Can Specialty Pharmacy Achieve the Goals of ACOs (specialtypharmacytimes.com)
National Association of Specialty Pharmacy (NASP) Executive Director James E. Smeeding, RPh, MBA, discusses the relationship between specialty pharmacies and accountable care organizations.
- ‘Safe’ social network LinkedIn emerges as popular marketing tool for pharma (fiercepharmamarketing.com)
LinkedIn's professional social network appeals to business people, networkers and recruiters, but also to industries that tend to be more cautious on social media. Welcome, pharma...Healthcare, overall, and pharma is definitely on the developmental side of the LinkedIn spectrum...from an advertising perspective...But over the past three years, we've seen a huge growth in having these companies consider LinkedIn as a channel...Many drugmakers have taken a first step, usually by setting up a company page where drugmakers can build up followers and create an audience with employees, colleagues and associates. But pharmas are increasingly using LinkedIn for paid sponsorships and advertising. Sponsored updates and InMail campaigns are beginning to move from testing to a repeat marketing strategy among pharmas...InMail, in which sponsored messages are sent directly to targeted LinkedIn members inboxes, tends to be "safe" for pharma because email bypasses any open comment possibilities...I think there are a lot of opportunities for pharma companies to be the leader and the innovator across their competitive set...Professionals on LinkedIn are connected to peers, colleagues and managers so the platform allows for that much more engagement. You're not hiding behind a handle or showing pictures of family, this is your professional brand...
- FDA advisory panel strongly backs biosimilar Remicade (reuters.com)FDA Briefing Document Arthritis Advisory Committee Meeting February 09, 2016 (fda.gov)
A medical advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration...recommended approval of a cheaper biosimilar form of Johnson & Johnson's Remicade (infliximab) arthritis drug that could eventually batter sales of the branded product...The panel, by a vote of 21-3, supported use of the biosimilar from Celltrion Inc and Pfizer Inc, called Remsima. The FDA usually, but not always, follows the advice of its advisory panels...The independent panel determined that clinical trials of Remsima showed no clinically significant differences with Remicade in treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and a related condition called ankylosing spondylitis...Moreover, the panel agreed Remsima is likely as safe and effective for other conditions Remicade treats, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel conditions like Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, even though Remsima was not tested against those conditions.
- New consumer concerns harder for health brands to swallow (mmm-online.com)
Drugmakers, long reliant on using DTC ads to drive patients into doctor's offices, should rethink that strategy...The marketing model used to be big and bold out of the gate on day one...the industry is starting to challenge that model...The consumerization of healthcare is king, not the consumer...if a patient today requests a new drug or tries to refill an old one, that request may face more resistance from physicians with differing views about a specific medication or from payers that give certain medications preferred status on their formularies than it would have in the past...This raises questions about the effectiveness of traditional branded pharmaceutical advertising campaigns, which perform best in a market where the drug is broadly available...About 47% of Americans ask their doctor questions about a drug, while 30% ask the pharmacist. Nearly half of respondents—43%—say that their pharmacist always or frequently recommends an alternative brand or type of medication in order to reduce out-of-pocket costs...The role of the pharmacist in a formulary driven world is becoming far more dominant...The pharmacist is becoming as good a choice for health counsel...Marketers are seeing a need to better communicate with the pharmacist...
- In Egypt, medicines disappear from shelves as dollar crisis bites (reuters.com)
Declines in the value of the Egyptian pound coupled with a shortage of foreign exchange have made it harder for Egyptian pharmaceutical companies to import active ingredients they need to make generic medicines millions of poor Egyptians rely on...Though medicines are classed as essential goods, putting them high on the priority list at banks deciding how to allocate precious dollar rations, pharmaceutical companies say they still face serious problems that force them to slow or pause production...A weaker currency has also made it more expensive to import raw materials while the price of finished medicines is fixed by the Health Ministry, forcing manufacturers to stop making some cheap generic medicines to staunch growing financial losses...
- Novartis sets heart-drug price with two insurers based on health outcome (reuters.com)
U.S.-based health insurers Cigna Corp and Aetna Inc have struck deals with Novartis AG for a performance-based price for the Swiss drugmaker's new heart drug, Entresto...The agreements are among the few performance-based deals that have been made public by drugmakers and managed-care companies, which say they have been having more discussions about linking price to health outcomes in order to cut unneeded drug spending...Under the agreement, Cigna said its payments to Novartis will be linked to how well the drug improves the relative health of Cigna customers...Entresto (sacubitril/valsartan) is approved for the treatment of chronic heart failure...Cigna said payments will be based on a reduction in the proportion of customers who are admitted to hospital for heart failure...Aetna...said it signed a value-based agreement with Novartis that is based on the drug replicating results that it achieved during clinical trials. In trials, Entresto cut hospitalizations and the rate of cardiovascular death related to heart failure...Epstein (David Epstein, head of pharmaceuticals, Novartis)...said that under the deals, Novartis had agreed to a base price and a modest rebate, which would fluctuate based on hospitalizations and savings to the plan...