- This Week in Managed Care: January 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
- January 11 Pharmacy Week in Review: Vecuronium Bromide Recall, and New App for OUD Treatment (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.
- Cost, safety main reasons for personal prescription imports from Canada (chaindrugreview.com)
The Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation...released survey results highlighting the reasons Americans continue to purchase their personal prescriptions from licensed and legitimate online pharmacies in Canada, safely, at considerable cost savings, and often at the recommendation of a healthcare provider...The majority of respondents – 94% – cited cost as the main reason they order their medications from licensed, legitimate online pharmacies, which is an increase from last year’s survey in which 79% of respondents cited cost as the main reason. In addition, 97% of survey respondents would recommend ordering prescription medications from an online pharmacy in Canada to their friends and family members...
- Location, location, location: How important is geography when selecting a CMO? (in-pharmatechnologist.com)
An increasing number of pharma companies are opting to outsource the development and manufacturing of small and large molecules...This growing trend has created a contract manufacturing organisation (CMO) market of approximately $5bn over the last 15 years....The decision to either ‘make or buy’ – to manufacture in-house or to outsource responsibility to a contractor – is not an easy one...Nor is the selection process, if the pharma company elects to outsource its manufacturing to a new partner...how should pharma companies select an outsourcing partner? Does geography, and the CMO’s proximity to its client, play a major role in this process?
IP protection
The ‘human factor’
- Sen. Sanders, Rep. Cummings introduce bill to lower U.S. drug prices (reuters.com)
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings introduced legislation...aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs for American consumers...
- bill would peg U.S. prescription drug prices to the median price from five countries - Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan - where drug costs are typically far lower because of government price controls.
- also allow the U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services to negotiate prices in Medicare Part D, a program that helps Medicare beneficiaries pay for self-administered medicines like those purchased at drugstores.
- end a ban that keeps Americans from buying medicines at lower prices from Canada and other countries.
- CES 2019: A little-known pain relief tool could end the opioid crisis (reviewjournal.com)
Nerve stimulation to treat neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, addiction and chronic pain has been around for the past five decades...But the lack of knowledge of its existence — and proven effectiveness — led in part to the rise in the national opioid epidemic, five doctors and engineers said during a panel at CES...This discussion, titled “The Solution to the Opioid Crisis No One is Talking About,”...neuromodulation to treat chronic pain...is a very safe and effective therapy, with a lot of data and publications to back it up...This is a very safe and effective therapy, with a lot of data and publications to back it up.”...electrodes on a needle stimulate nerves in the spine to eliminate pain...Some implants last up to a decade...It’s what Rafael Carbunaru, head of research and development at Boston Scientific, called the “ultimate wearable.”...It sounds like a dream. So why isn’t it the norm in treatment, and why don’t more patients know to ask their doctors about it?...
- De Blasio Unveils Health Care Plan for Undocumented and Low-Income New Yorkers (nytimes.com)
New York City will spend at least $100 million to ensure that undocumented immigrants and others who cannot qualify for insurance can receive medical treatment, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday morning...The mayor’s office was quick to say that its plan, to be called NYC Care, would not be a substitute for any universal health care at the state level or a national single-payer plan. But, aides said, it was something the city could do immediately and on its own, and not require approval from the State Legislature...The NYC Care plan would improve that coverage, which already insures some 516,000 people, and aim to reach more of those who are eligible, such as the young and uninsured, and others who qualify but have not applied...It would also provide direct city spending, about $100 million per year when fully implemented, on those without insurance, including undocumented immigrants, who already can receive care at the emergency rooms of city-run hospitals...Details of how those seeking care could do so under the new plan were not immediately clear...
- Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine (americanthinker.com)
Concern over China's territorial, military, and economic aggressiveness has been building over the past decade as the country is increasingly perceived as a threat to the United States, U.S. Asian allies, and the West. In China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America's Dependence on China for Medicine (Prometheus Books, 2018), authors Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh explore yet another peril: China as the largest global supplier of ingredients for many prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, and vitamins...China Rx is an important wake-up call for American citizens and government officials about the danger of our dependency on a hostile superpower and the need to safeguard our drug supply, American jobs, and industries and national security.
- U.S. health care industry spends $30 billion a year on marketing (reuters.com)Medical Marketing in the United States, 1997-2016 (jamanetwork.com)
Spending on health care advertising in the U.S. has almost doubled over the past two decades as companies compete for their share of the world’s biggest health care market...Annual health care marketing surged from $17.7 billion in 1997 to at least $29.9 billion in 2016, driven by a rapid spike in spending on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs, the study found...DTC spending climbed from $2.1 billion to $9.6 billion...Pharmaceutical marketing to health professionals accounted for the biggest outlay, and climbed from $15.6 billion to $20.3 billion despite new policies at hospitals and medical schools designed to limit industry influence over prescribing...
- Pharma sales rep regulations proposal stalls in Philadelphia, but the battle’s not over yet (fiercepharma.com)
Big Pharma got a reprieve in Philadelphia last month, but only temporarily...city council paused its proposal to regulate pharmaceutical sales reps when the bill’s co-sponsors pulled it at the final meeting of the year, but they committed to taking it up again in 2019...Councilman Bill Greenlee and Councilwoman Cindy Bass announced they were pulling the proposal before a vote could be taken...and blamed new opposition on the fact that Big Pharma "has unleashed its money and reach to cause hysteria and spread false information.”...Greenlee accused the industry of “bullying” local businesses “when pharmaceutical companies threatened to pull any future medical conventions from the city because of the ‘perception’ of the legislation.”...The proposed “Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing Practices” gifts and conduct ordinance would regulate pharma manufacturer reps in the city with measures such as having to register with the city, which includes a fee, and prohibiting any gifts to healthcare providers and office staff...follows efforts from other cities such as Chicago, which passed an ordinance to require sales rep licensing that went into effect in July 2017. Nevada also requires pharma manufacturers to submit a list of sales reps working in the state, report gifts or freebies over $10 and provide a list of drug samples distributed...