- More do-it-yourself docs are finding pharma answers on their own as sales rep contact declines (fiercepharma.com)Decision Resources Group 2019 ePharma Physician® Report Finds U.S. Physicians Increasingly Too Busy to See Pharma Sales Reps (decisionresourcesgroup.com)
Physician-pharma rep engagement declined significantly over the past year, with fewer in-person meetings responsible for the bulk of the drop...Physicians are seeing fewer pharma sales reps than ever, which likely isn’t a surprise. But what might raise some eyebrows is the fact that digital contact by reps isn’t taking up the slack...Instead, doctors are searching for drug and treatment information online and on their own. Close to half of doctors say they never have a question for a rep that they can’t find the answer to online...READ MORE
- With new report, ICER puts itself at center of drug pricing storm (biopharmadive.com)
Pharmaceutical companies often preach value. Yet, for seven top-selling drugs, prices went up in 2017 and 2018 despite limited new evidence showing patients receiving treatment experienced greater benefit, according to a new report...Taken together, the price hikes added more than $5 billion to U.S. spending on those drugs over the two-year period, a study published...by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said...The finding is the latest challenge from a group known for criticizing the drug industry's approach to pricing, and is likely to stir debate at a time when Congress is considering legislation to curb rising drug costs...READ MORE
- October 4 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.
- Endo comes out on top in its fight with FDA and bulk compounder (fiercepharma.com)
...Endo International...has prevailed in its two-front fight with the FDA and bulk compounders. The resolution has ended competition for its vessel constrictor Vasostrict...The drugmaker...has dropped its litigation against the FDA...the FDA amended its draft guidelines to stop compounders from making vasopressin...While the ruling is specific to vasopressin, it is believed to have precedent for other drugmakers whose drugs are targeted by large-scale compounders for generic competition...READ MORE
- This Week in Managed Care: October 11, 2019 (ajmc.com)
Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- After fanfare, Civica Rx delivers its 1st drugs (biopharmadive.com)
...Civica Rx has delivered on its promise to supply hospitals with generic medications...Intermountain Health and other nonprofit systems joined forces in hopes of providing more predictable pricing and access to drugs...The company pledges that every hospital, regardless of size, will have the same access to products, and says it will only set one market price. Larger systems will not receive discounts on larger volume purchases and every hospital will have the same contracting terms...READ MORE
- Nevada levies $17 million in fines on drug companies for noncompliance with diabetes drug transparency law (thenevadaindependent.com)
The state is imposing $17.4 million in fines on 21 diabetes drug manufacturers that have either failed to comply with or were many months late in complying with a drug pricing transparency law passed two years ago...The fines, which the state is allowed to assess at $5,000 a day, range from $735,000 for one company that submitted the required drug pricing data the same day it received a final notice from the state — but 147 days after the reporting deadline — to $910,000 for eight companies that still have yet to report the required information. The Department of Health and Human Services told the companies in letters sent this week that they have 30 days to either pay the fines in full or 10 days to request an informal dispute resolution meeting with the state...READ MORE
- October 11 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.
- This Week in Managed Care: October 4, 2019 (ajmc.com)
Laura Joszt, Managing Editor at The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network
- CVS pulls Zantac and generics as recall spreads around the globe (fiercepharma.com)FDA says finds 'unacceptable level' of carcinogen in Zantac and its generics (reuters.com)
The Zantac recall is quickly turning into a landslide as CVS pulled Zantac and its generics from its shelves and countries from Korea to Bangladesh asked makers to remove ranitidine drugs from their markets...CVS Sunday said it was suspending sales of all Zantac brand and CVS Health brand ranitidine products until further notice. That came despite the fact the FDA has yet to seek the recall of the products or recommend that patients quit taking the heartburn med after it warned a suspected carcinogen has been found in them...FDA alerted the public Sept. 13 that it had been determined that NDMA could be produced during the manufacturing of ranitidine drugs. At the time, it said the amounts found in the drugs appeared to be less than would be found in common foods, and their risks seemed small...READ MORE