- Drugmakers Endo, Allergan agree to $15 million in settlements in major opioid case (reuters.com)Oklahoma judge to rule on Monday in opioid lawsuit against J&J (reuters.com)Cardinal Health warns ongoing opioid-related lawsuits to hit business (reuters.com)
Endo International Plc and Allergan Plc have agreed to pay $15 million to avoid going to trial...in a landmark case by two Ohio counties accusing various drug manufacturers and distributors of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic...The tentative deals...came ahead of the first trial to result from 2,000 lawsuits pending in federal court in Cleveland largely by local governments seeking to hold drug companies responsible for the deadly epidemic...The accords are the first to result from the counties’ cases, which were selected for the first bellwether, or test, trial in the litigation to allow parties to gauge the value of the remaining claims and inform potential settlement talks...READ MORE
- Nevada Independent sues state health department for access to drug pricing transparency records (thenevadaindependent.com)
The Nevada Independent filed a lawsuit...against the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services seeking access to a number of records related to the state’s 2017 diabetes drug pricing transparency law...The Independent filed two records requests this year seeking copies of annual reports submitted by diabetes drug companies and the drug pricing middlemen who help sell them to the state…The annual reports are required to explain how and why a drug price spikes over time...But the state has denied much of both requests on the grounds that such information is exempt from state public records law because of a federal trade secret law...READ MORE
- This Week in Managed Care: August 9, 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
- August 9 Pharmacy Week in Review: Researchers Discover Cancer Cell Growth Mechanism, USPSTF Reaffirms HBV Screening Recommendation for Pregnant Women (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.
- Week in Review: Noninvasive Bladder Cancer Test; Mental Health Genetic Testing Services (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.
- Trump’s Drug Importation Policy Is Folly, Just Ask Canadians (forbes.com)Canadian Pharmacists Association renews call for federal government to protect drug supply in light of U.S. drug importation developments (pharmacists.ca)CPhA Drug Shortages and Recalls Surveys 2018 (pharmacists.ca)
The Trump Administration's Department of Health and Human Services has officially proposed legalizing the importation of drugs from Canada...Canadians’ reactions provide an important perspective demonstrating why drug importation will harm the U.S...Despite assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadians are worried that the U.S. proposal will impose severe costs on Canadians. Their concerns are well founded. Typical of their reaction, the Canadian Pharmacists Association has noted that...the Canadian medicine supply is not equipped to support both Canadian and U.S. consumers, and will make existing drug shortages in Canada even worse, disrupting patients’ access to their medications. Drug shortages have ‘greatly increased’ in the last 3-5 years according to a newly released survey of Canadian pharmacists...READ MORE
- Drug distributors offer $10 billion to resolve lawsuits claiming they fueled opioid crisis (inquirer.com)
McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., and AmerisourceBergen Corp. have proposed paying $10 billion to settle claims they helped to fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic — the first sign of progress in resolving state lawsuits against the drug distributors…The companies, which deliver the majority of prescription medications to U.S. pharmacies, made the verbal proposal as part of talks with a group of state attorneys general...Whether the distributors and attorneys general can agree to a deal remains uncertain...READ MORE
- Medicare boosts CAR-T cancer therapies with expanded coverage (biopharmadive.com)
Medicare and Medicaid will cover CAR-T cell therapies...a decision that helps address, but doesn't fully solve, the reimbursement challenges that have hampered uptake of the pricey cancer drugs...One major hang-up is reimbursement. Kymriah costs $475,000 for pediatric and young adult patients with leukemia and both therapies are priced at $373,000 to treat lymphoma in adults...Under regulations published this month, Medicare will reimburse at least 65% of the treatment's cost, or about $242,000, through Part B...That will give hospitals surety they will receive payment for the drug, yet doesn't necessarily make whole the full cost of treating a patient with CAR-T. The cell therapies are also still reimbursed via billing codes for bone marrow and stem cell transplants, rather than using a separate identifier...READ MORE
- Drug shortages forcing hospitals to ration treatments (marketwatch.com)The Immunoglobulin Shortage: A Plea to Hospital-Based Prescribers and Pharmacists (primaryimmune.org)
A shortage of a versatile medicine used to treat immune disorders and other diseases has forced U.S. hospitals and infusion clinics to suspend treatment for many patients... many hospitals and infusion clinics have received less immune globulin, or IG, than they need. Some have started to ration it, prioritizing it for patients who need it to stay alive and canceling infusions for patients deemed to have non-life-threatening conditions. The shortage has gotten to an acute status...READ MORE
- Optimizing IV Robotics in Hospital Pharmacy (pharmacytimes.com)
Dennis Killian, PharmD, PhD, Director of Pharmacy Services, Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury, MD, discusses techniques to optimize the use of IV robotics in a hospital pharmacy setting. (video)