- European and UK pharma industry call for action as parliament rejects Brexit deal (pharmaceutical-technology.com)
The European and UK pharma industry have called for preparations to ensure that patients will have access to their medications in case of a no-deal Brexit by 30 March 2019...The call follows parliament’s rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal plan...the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations highlighted ‘real, tangible and immediate threats’ to patients and public health in the UK as well as the EU...“Now is the time for policy makers in the UK and the EU to put politics aside and put measures in place to prevent patients being harmed by the consequences of Brexit...“In particular from disruption to the supply of medicines including from transport delays at the border and where the development, manufacture, packaging, safety testing and regulation of the medicine no longer benefits from mutual recognition.”
- January 18 Pharmacy Week in Review: Influenza Data Finds More Than 6 Million People Sick This Season, and Walmart Ends a Partnership With CVS (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.
- Amid scrutiny, Memorial Sloan Kettering bans execs from pharma directorships (biopharmadive.com)
Memorial Sloan Kettering will no longer allow its top executives to simultaneously sit on corporate boards of for-profit, health-related companies, including drugmakers...The decision comes as the New York-based cancer center has found itself the center of public scrutiny following a series of investigative reports published by The New York Times and ProPublica that raised ethical questions on the nonprofit's relationships with industry. The organization's chief executive, Craig Thompson, resigned in October from his seat on the board of Merck & Co.
- U.S. lawmaker launches investigation into pharma drug pricing (reuters.com)
A top U.S. lawmaker launched an investigation into pharmaceutical industry pricing practices on Monday, less than a week after he and fellow Democrats introduced legislation aimed at lowering medicine prices. Representative Elijah Cummings, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, sent letters to 12 drugmakers seeking information on price increases, investment in research and development, and corporate strategies to preserve market share and pricing power...Cummings’ letters focused on drugs that are the costliest to Medicare Part D, a program that helps beneficiaries of the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled pay for self-administered medicines like those purchased at drugstores, as well as drugs that have had the largest price increases over a five-year period.
- State receives first reports on diabetes drug costs; questions remain over what will be publicly disclosed (thenevadaindependent.com)
Nearly 20 drug manufacturers and pharmacy benefit managers submitted reports to the state detailing the costs of manufacturing and distributing diabetes drugs in advance of a Tuesday deadline, and state officials continue to comb through others received this week as they prepare to undertake their first examination of the factors contributing to the costs of treating Nevadans with diabetes...drug companies and PBMs...,insurers and pharmacies — were required to submit reports to the state explaining the costs associated with essential diabetes drugs and, for some, why the costs of those drugs increased significantly over the prior year...The new law additionally requires the state to compile an annual report analyzing the information it receives from drug companies and PBMs in aggregate to explain the factors contributing to the costs of treating diabetes...
- Louisiana launching ‘Netflix model’ in Medicaid for hep C drugs (biopharmadive.com)
The Louisiana Department of Health is seeking a drug manufacturing partner for unrestricted access to curative hepatitis C treatments for Medicaid and incarcerated patients. Rather than pay the partner by prescription, the state would agree to pay a subscription fee similar to the Netflix model of paying a fixed monthly cost rather than paying per movie... The state said the plan is an attempt to help end the hep C epidemic in Louisiana. At least 39,000 people in the state's Medicaid program or in its prisons have the disease... fewer than 3% of Medicaid patients in Louisiana with hep C were treated last year. State officials blamed the lack of treatment on high drug prices.
- Walmart pharmacies likely to leave CVS network because of pricing dispute (cnbc.com)
CVS announced...that Walmart pharmacies are leaving its network because of a dispute over pricing...Both Walmart and CVS are saying that the other company is trying to make prescriptions more expensive for consumers...CVS said it has asked Walmart to stay in its networks through April 30...Walmart is one of the largest pharmacy chains in the United States with about 4,600 locations, but CVS said that the matter will not considerably impact its financial results. Less than 5 percent of affected CVS Caremark members use only Walmart to fill their prescriptions...
- This Week in Managed Care: January 18, 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
- Independent Pharmacy Economics Keep Deteriorating (drugchannels.net)
Time for Drug Channels’annual look at independent pharmacy owners’ business economics, drawn from the recently released 2018 National Community Pharmacists Association Digest...Our analysis reveals that independent pharmacy owners have faced another year of deteriorating finances ...What's more, we estimate that in 2017, the average pharmacy owner’s salary fell to a level comparable to that of an employed pharmacist. Owning a pharmacy, with all of its hassles and additional obligations, now brings the same reward as being an employee. I wonder how many owners will conclude that it’s barely worth the risk and effort...The pharmacy consolidation endgame is getting closer...
OBSERVATIONS ON THE 2017 DATA
1) Overall independent pharmacy profit margins continue to decline.
2) Independent pharmacies’ prescription profit margins also keep trending downward.
3) Independent pharmacies’ generic dispensing rates have caught up to those of the overall market.
4) The average pharmacist owning a single pharmacy earned about $136,000 in 2017—down for the fourth consecutive year.
5) By the NCPA's count, the total number of independent pharmacies is slowly declining.
- Insurers, providers inch closer to compromise on surprise emergency room bills (thenevadaindependent.com)
Surprise medical bills...patients receive after they’re transported by ambulance to a hospital — sometimes unconscious or in critical condition — that is out of their insurance company’s network. They’re also the bills patients receive when they land in an emergency room that contracts with their insurance company but are inadvertently treated by a doctor that doesn’t...Hospitals, physicians and insurance companies in Nevada have agreed that patients experiencing a true emergency shouldn’t have to worry about whether they’re receiving in-network care — or face bills totaling tens of thousands of dollars if they accidentally wind up out of network just because their provider and insurer don’t have a contract. Where there has historically been less agreement, though, is what to do about it...