- California Looks to Launch Its Own Prescription-Drug Label (wsj.com)
California would become the first state to contract with generic-drug manufacturers to make prescription medicines to sell to residents, under a plan proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that aims to control rising health costs...Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, said it will be part of his new budget proposal. Few details were provided about how the plan would work, what kind of drugs it would produce, how much it would cost to enact or how much it might save the state...Mr. Newsom is betting that California’s purchasing power can help it offer drugs at a lower price than they are offered commercially...READ MORE
- Lots of cash and tasty targets signal deals to come—and it may be now or never: analyst (fiercepharma.com)
Brace yourselves, pharma watchers. With the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference around the corner, some major biopharma deal announcements could hit the headlines, just as Bristol-Myers Squibb unveiled its $74 billion Celgene buyout and Eli Lilly its $8 billion Loxo Oncology takeover last year.,,Those announcements kicked off a year marked by record-breaking biopharma mergers and acquisitions, and signs point to a busy 2020, thanks to a growing deal appetite among major drugmakers, according to one group of analysts...Plus, there's increasing political scrutiny of the drug industry, the looming presidential election and intensifying antitrust scrutiny. That pressure is “likely contributing to a mentality of ‘get it done now or possibly not at all’ among large companies,”...READ MORE
- January 3 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.
- Chinese court sentences ‘gene-editing’ scientist to three years in prison (reuters.com)
A Chinese court sentenced the scientist who created the world’s first “gene-edited” babies to three years in prison...for illegally practising medicine and violating research regulations...He Jiankui...said he had used gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to change the genes of twin girls to protect them from getting infected with the AIDS virus in the future...The backlash in China and globally about the ethics of his research and work was fast and widespread...“They have crossed the bottom line of ethics in scientific research and medical ethics.”...READ MORE
- This Week in Managed Care: January 10, 2020 (ajmc.com)
Christina Mattina, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- Teva forks over $54M to settle Copaxone, Azilect kickbacks suit (fiercepharma.com)
Teva...agreed to pay $54 million to settle a years-old whistleblower lawsuit claiming it paid doctors—as speakers or consultants at “sham” events—to prescribe multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and Parkinson’s med Azilect...Former Teva sales reps Charles Arnstein and Hossam Senousy sued the company in 2013, alleging the company set up a program to pay doctors to prescribe the drugs through speakers’ fees. The events weren't educational, though, and only served as a conduit for paying docs to prescribe the drugs, according to the whistleblowers...READ MORE
- Exclusive: Drugmakers from Pfizer to GSK to hike U.S. prices on over 200 drugs (reuters.com)More drugmakers hike U.S. prices as new year begins (reuters.com)
Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi SA are planning to hike U.S. list prices on more than 200 drugs in the United States...according to drugmakers...Nearly all of the price increases will be below 10%, and around half of them are in the range of 4 to 6%...The median price increase is around 5%...READ MORE
- January 9 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.
- This Week in Managed Care: January 3, 2020 (ajmc.com)
Christina Mattina, welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- NCPA stands with NY patients, pharmacists after Cuomo veto (chaindrugreview.com)AARP praises Governor Cuomo’s plan to tackle high Rx drug costs (chaindrugreview.com)
Despite aggressive advocacy efforts by state-based pharmacy organizations and individual New York pharmacists, Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week vetoed legislation to help to rein in costly pharmacy benefit manager practices by giving the superintendent of insurance licensing and regulatory authority over PBMs. This regulatory authority would put an end to the lack of transparency, oversight, and accountability that has allowed PBMs to engage in anticompetitive practices to the harm of the state’s patients and small-business community pharmacies...READ MORE