- Headaches for Reckitt over charges of misleading claims for OTC painkillers (fiercepharmamarketing.com)
Reckitt Benckiser executives may need some of the company's own pain meds this week. First in Australia and now in the U.K., the drugmaker is being taken to task over misleading claims for its painkiller Nurofen...Australia, a judge ordered four "different" kinds of Nurofen pulled from store shelves. While each product has a different name targeting a different pain--Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache--each had the exact same active ingredient and at the same strength, 342 mg of ibuprofen lysine...Meanwhile, in the U.K., Reckitt is under investigation for TV advertising for its Nurofen Express, charged with making inaccurate claims that "the product directly targets muscles in the head," and that it works more quickly than standard ibuprofen...This is not the first time Reckitt has been charged with making misleading Nurofen claims; in 2012, the Australian government ordered one of its TV ads withdrawn. The ad included the "misleading" claim that Nurofen "goes straight to the pain" together with "imagery of the medicine ascending from the neck to the head," according to the filed complaint.
- Which Biotechnologies Were Hyped (And Which Went Out Of Favor) In 2015 (forbes.com)
"Don’t Believe the Hype."...It’s good advice for people operating in the R&D side of pharmaceuticals. Many exciting things are happening today in the science, so it’s easy to get carried away. But this year’s market correction–driven in part by systemic concerns about drug pricing, a few clinical trial blowups and shenanigans—should serve as a vivid reminder. No matter how good the fundamentals are, biotech still hasn’t figured out how to carefully calibrate perceptions to keep the steam engine steadily chugging along, without letting things get too hot or too cold...Hype has always been part of biotech because investments must be made on glimmers of promise, otherwise known as incomplete data. Without hype and hope, the industry couldn’t exist...There’s no good way to quantify perceptions, and things change fast in biotech, but I do talk every day to lots of different people with their fingers on the pulse of different things. So I thought it would be fun to try again this year with plotting various biotech platforms and concepts along the Gartner hype curve.
Peak of inflated expectations
- CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing.
- Microbiome everything.
- Genomic wellness.
- Conquering antibiotic resistance.
Trough of Disillusionment
- Digital health.
- Stem cell therapies.
Climbing up the Slope of Enlightenment
- Immuno-oncology.
- Viral Vector Gene Therapy.
- Long-read sequencing.
- Packham: State’s health improves despite miserly public health budget (rgj.com)Nevada ranks 38th in nation for overall health (rgj.com)
Since 1990, the United Health Foundation’s "America’s Health Rankings" have tracked the status of our nation’s health and the overall health of each state. These rankings have become established as the nation’s annual checkup and provide an opportunity to see how Nevada stacks up on health measures versus other states...Nevada’s overall health ranking is currently 38th, an increase from last year’s ranking of 39th. This year’s report not only indicates an improved overall ranking for Nevada over the past five years – up from 48th in 2010 – it points to notable areas of improvement…population health challenges in Nevada, including chronic primary care physician workforce shortages (47th), a high percentage of the population who remain uninsured (47th), high rates of drug deaths (47th) and violent crime (48th), and a low high school graduation rate (48th)...These deficits are compounded by the stunning lack of investment by Nevada lawmakers for basic public health services. This year’s rankings report indicates that state general fund support for core public health activities – disease surveillance, infectious and chronic disease prevention, and public health preparedness – is a miserly $33 per person in Nevada (50th)...This year’s rankings provide Nevada health leaders and policymakers with an opportunity to renew our commitment to confront formidable health challenges in our state in the coming year. To put matters mildly, plenty of work remains for us in 2016.
- Nevada ranks 38th in nation for overall health (rgj.com)
According to an annual report from the United Health Foundation, Nevada is ranked 38th in the U.S. when it comes to health...Nevada’s rank in 2014 was 39, so the state has improved over the past year. Here are some snapshots of how Nevada compares to national numbers for health-related topics:
- In Nevada, 17 percent of people smoke compared to the 18 percent national average.
- Drug deaths are significantly higher in Nevada, with 22.4 overdose deaths per 100,000 people compared to a 13.5 death average nationally.
- Nevada is average when it comes to the inactivity of adults. 22.5 percent of adults in Nevada are physically inactive compared with 22.6 nationally.
- Infant mortality is lower in Nevada, with 5.1 deaths per 1,000 live births compared to the 6 national average.
- In Nevada, 27.7 percent of adults are obese compared to the national average of 29.6. For diabetes, 9.6 percent of Nevadan adults have diabetes compared to 10 percent nationwide.
- For children’s vaccinations, 67.7 percent of children in Nevada are immunized compared to 71.6 nationally.
The top five healthiest states in the nation, according to the report, include Hawaii, Vermont, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Hampshire
- Valeant’s big pharmacy deal with Walgreens includes quirky drug-buyback plan (fiercepharma.com)Valeant Taking Titles to Drugs on Walgreens’ Shelves (sub req) (wsj.com)
Valeant Pharmaceuticals' much-ballyhooed agreement with Walgreens includes an unusual inventory provision that helps explain why the pharmacy chain might have been eager to strike a deal...Valeant is buying back its drugs from Walgreens and selling them on consignment to the pharmacy, a provision that triggers an upfront financial hit. Walgreens won't physically return the drugs, just the title to them...It's just one out-of-the-ordinary feature of an out-of-the-ordinary pharmacy deal. Valeant announced last week that it had teamed up with Walgreens to distribute its drugs, discounting key skin and eye brands by 10% and another slate of meds by an average of 50%. Walgreens is taking the Valeant drugs on consignment and collects fees for filling prescriptions…The Walgreens partnership replaces Valeant's relationship with Philidor, a specialty pharmacy that was closely tied to the drugmaker until questions arose about its operations...The drugmaker is expecting a sales hit from the pharmacy shift, partly because of the mechanics of the Walgreens deal and partly because of lower demand for its drugs in the wake of the Philidor allegations.
- The Role Of Big Pharma In Neglected Diseases (forbes.com)
Big Pharma has taken its lumps on a number of fronts this year. Election year rhetoric has battered the industry on drug prices. Politicians have also aimed their venom on U.S. companies that seek to move their headquarters to Europe to escape the U.S. high corporate tax rate...has...eroded the public’s trust in this industry...Yet, some recent events, that have gone largely unnoticed, show another side of Big Pharma.
- ...donation of Pfizer 500 millionth dose of Zithromax (azithromycin), an antibiotic that is especially effective in treating trachoma. Trachoma is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the world…
- Merck established the Mectizan (ivermectin) Donation Program to eliminate river blindness (onchocerciasis) in Africa and Latin America.
- Novartis recently announced that it had delivered its 300 millionth dose of a pediatric malaria treatment to children in more than 30 malaria-endemic countries.
- Beyond donating its medicines, Big Pharma companies are developing treatments for diseases that are unlikely to turn any profit, such as Merck’s Ebola vaccine and GSK’s malaria vaccine.
…all Big Pharma companies have major philanthropic programs in areas of neglected diseases. There are those who dismiss these efforts and some...are even critical of such altruism. Nevertheless, the resources and manpower devoted by Big Pharma are considerable – efforts for which they receive little credit and zero return on investment...In the coming year, we are likely to see more attacks on Big Pharma...The industry is a big target...not without its flaws. However, the industry does a lot of good beyond providing new treatments to treat the diseases of the world. It would be nice to remember that on occasion.
- Letter: Easy to blame pharma firms, but insurance also implicated (rgj.com)
I read the letter you recently published regarding pharmaceutical costs ["Pharma costs leave cures out of reach for many," Voices, Dec. 11], and have to ask in response: Where is the accountability of insurance companies?...It’s easy to blame pharmaceutical companies, especially given the recent issues with one very bad actor from Turing Pharmaceuticals. But what about insurance companies deciding what drugs they will and won’t cover? The fact is that insurance companies play a role in this issue, and they need to be held accountable...my quality of life shouldn’t come down to my insurance company deciding what they will and won’t cover.
- Study: Florida’s Crackdown On ‘Pill Mills’ Is Working (forbes.com)
State officials have been cracking down on Florida’s "pill mills" over the past five year to prevent pain clinics from dispensing large quantities of prescription opioids to residents without following proper protocol–and their efforts seem to be paying off...a new study revealed that approximately 1,029 fewer people in Florida lost their lives to prescription opioid-related overdoses over a 34-month period than would have had the Sunshine State not targeted pill mills beginning in 2010...State officials passed new laws in 2010 and 2011 to curb opioid abuse, misuse and overdose in the state by establishing greater oversight over pain clinics. "These laws prohibited on-site dispensing of most prescription narcotics, prohibited advertising and increased criminal penalties for doctors and clinic owners involved drug diversion,"..."In addition, state and local law enforcement collaborated with the DEA to enforce these new laws, arresting pill mill owners, physicians and other staff, and seizing assets."...The study’s authors believe Floridians are less likely to become addicted to heroin because people are less likely to abuse prescription opioids, mainly due to the fact that they aren’t readily available in the state.
- Health insurance exchange enrollment strong ahead of deadline (reviewjournal.com)
More than 72,600 Nevadans signed up for a Nevada Health Link plan between Nov. 1 and Saturday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services....That's more than double the 35,000 enrollees who had selected a plan by this time in 2014...Consumers had to have a plan in place by Dec. 17 to qualify for coverage that would begin on Jan. 1, but they have until Jan. 31 to buy insurance and avoid a federal tax for lacking coverage. The tax in 2016 will equal 2.5 percent of household income, or $695 per adult and $347.50 per child up to a household maximum of $2,085 — whichever is higher...Nearly 70 percent of Nevada's exchange enrollees can find plans for $75 a month or less after tax credits...
- Letter: Pharma costs leave cures out of reach for many (rgj.com)
Public programs such as Medicaid are a necessity – not only for low-income families but for all the public, which benefits from a healthier population...These programs need access to affordable prescription drugs to treat those suffering from diseases like hepatitis and HIV. Unfortunately, their services are threatened by recent price increases from pharmaceutical companies like Turing and Gilead...I worry that such prices for prescription drugs are driving up spending for critical public programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Tricare at unsustainable rates. We need to be able to cure life-threatening diseases for the low-income, seniors and veterans. But at these prices, it’s simply not feasible. Clearly something needs to change...