- Proposed Medicare Changes Aim to Provide Improved Coverage, Access, Transparency (pharmacytimes.com)Proposed Medicare Changes Aim to Provide Improved Coverage, Access, Transparency (drugchannels.net)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a proposed rule and the Advance Notice Part II to further advance the agency’s efforts to strengthen and modernize the Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug programs. These changes would lower the beneficiary cost sharing on more expensive prescription drugs, promote the use of generic medications, and allow beneficiaries to know in advance and compare their out-of-pocket payments for different prescription drugs...The proposed rule would require Part D plans to offer real-time drug price comparison tools to beneficiaries starting January 1, 2022 so that consumers can buy lower-cost alternative therapies under their prescription drug benefit plan...READ MORE
- February 7 Pharmacy Week in Review (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.
- Gilead working with China to test Ebola drug as new coronavirus treatment (reuters.com)China lab seeks patent on use of Gilead's coronavirus treatment (reuters.com)
Gilead Sciences Inc said...it provided its experimental Ebola therapy for use in a small number of patients with the coronavirus…The company said it was also expediting laboratory testing of the antiviral drug, remdesivir, against samples of the new coronavirus…Johnson & Johnson...joined a growing list of drugmakers to begin work on developing a vaccine for the virus...Co-Diagnostics Inc said...initial verification of its screening test designed to identify the presence of the coronavirus was successful...READ MORE
- Fake drugs: Unharmonized legislation threatens the lives of African patients (in-pharmatechnologist.com)
Although control measures are applied, falsified medicines are present in the supply chain in Niger, with solutions requiring cross-country collaboration, says the country’s Ministry of Health...The spotlight was put on the topic of falsified medicines earlier this month with the signing of the Lomé Initiative, a political declaration under which the governments of seven African countries agreed to act to fight the issue, and improve access to quality medicines for African populations...the smuggling of fake drugs occurring at the country’s borders is the main weak point in the supply chain...harmonization of the legislation...can and needs to be achieved with the establishment of the African Medicines Agency, which would be the African equivalent of the European Medicines Agency, in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products...READ MORE
- The Latest, Clinical News, Community Practice, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Infectious Disease, Infectious Diseases & Conditions (drugtopics.com)Live version of coronavirus map (gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com)China Tightens Wuhan Lockdown in ‘Wartime’ Battle With Coronavirus (nytimes.com)Beijing begins mass arrest of sufferers and videos shows hazmat suit-clad goons dragging people from their homes as the death toll hits 724 (dailymail.co.uk)
The 2019 novel coronavirus, named 2019-nCoV, continues to dominate headlines as more cases emerge in the United States. As of February 5, the CDC has confirmed 11 positive tests of the virus in US patients...READ MORE
Here is a roundup of the latest coronavirus-related news:
- Pharmacists are running short on surgical masks due to coronavirus fears, according to a new survey.
- FDA issues emergency use authorization (EUA) for the first 2019-nCoV diagnostic.
- Gilead Sciences is donating its experimental antiviral drug remdesivir for clinical trials involving patients with coronavirus in China.
- Department of Health and Human Services will collaborate with Regeneron to develop treatment.
- VA to open “America’s first” all 5G-enabled hospital in Palo Alto this week (fiercehealthcare.com)
The U.S. will get its first entirely 5G-enabled hospital this week as the Department of Veterans Affairs brings the technology up online at its Palo Alto hospital...The VA's Palo Alto Health Care System, which is an affiliate of Stanford University School of Medicine, will be coming online as also the first 5G-enabled health facility in the world VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said…"What 5G will deliver is richer, more detailed, three-dimensional images of the patient's anatomy with resolution so clear and consistent that it will give us reliable use of important telesurgery services to veterans across the nation," Wilkie said. "That means reliable capacity to allow the VA's best physicians to consult during surgery even when they are not in the same room or halfway across the country."...READ MORE
- This Week in Managed Care: January 31, 2020 (ajmc.com)
Matthew Gavidia, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- This Week in Managed Care: February 7, 2020 (ajmc.com)
Christina Mattina, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- Regents approve donor-funded medical building at UNLV (reviewjournal.com)
The Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents Thursday approved the broad framework for a new, privately-funded medical school building at UNLV, subject to mutually-agreed conditions with the project’s donors that require construction to start by Feb. 1 of next year...“If we are to become a state of the art medical school that innovates and changes the health care landscape in Southern Nevada, we need facilities to make that goal a reality,” Marta Meana, UNLV’s acting president, told the board before the vote. “What we have before us today is a once in a generation opportunity thanks to the remarkable generosity of a group of community members who have been strongly invested in this medical school since its inception, and in UNLV for decades.”...Critics of the deal expressed concerns that NSHE and UNLV potentially would have to surrender to the donor corporation too much control over the operation, management and programming.,,READ MORE
- January 31 Pharmacy Week in Review (pharmacytimes.com)
Nicole Grassano, PTNN, Pharmacy Week in Review, this weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.