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Many patients haven’t heard of "biosimilars," generic versions of complex biotech drugs, and even some who say they’re familiar with these medicines may still be confused about them, a small European survey suggests...To see what patients know about biosimilars, researchers analyzed data from online surveys completed by 1,181 patients with irritable bowel disease or Crohn’s disease, chronic intestinal problems that are increasingly treated with biosimilars...just 38 percent (383) of the survey respondents had heard of biosimilars...researchers asked...more questions to see what they knew about these medicines, 47 percent said they worried about whether the copies were safe and 40 percent said they had concerns about whether the generics were effective…The study by Dr. Laurent Peyrin-Biroulet...found most patients were more concerned about the safety and effectiveness of biosimilars than whether they were a lower-priced alternative to brand name biotech drugs...the findings highlight the need for more patient education about biosimilars...

This is a picture of Josh Hardy...Josh...had undergone a bone-marrow transplant for kidney cancer...He was dying...There was an experimental drug called brincidofovir...his doctors thought might work. But the company declined their repeated requests to provide it. His parents...rallied friends, who rallied their friends and their friends...until it seemed as though the entire Internet were behind them...The ending was a good one: The company gave Josh the drug, and it worked and he got to go home...But not all cases like this go so well. A powerful report from STAT this week provides a heartbreaking reminder that the reason experimental drugs are not available for anyone to use is because they are just that — experimental. And the chances that things will go wrong are as strong as that they will go right...

Sara Belanger with The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network...

There’s some bad news in our latest exclusive annual analysis of pharmacist salaries, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recently released Occupational Employment Statistics...In 2015, the average gross base salary for a pharmacist at a retail, mail, and specialty pharmacy was $119,517—up a paltry 0.1% from 2014. Retail employment grew slowly, with slightly fewer pharmacists working at drugstores and mass merchants...Meanwhile, employment at mail pharmacies and hospitals grew. Pharmacists who work at hospitals also got some good paycheck news: Their salaries rose by 1.6%. The share of pharmacists who work at hospitals grew, too...The pharmacy industry’s ongoing shift from traditional to specialty drugs is altering long-standing pharmacist employment patterns…

Here are my observations about 2015 trends:

• Mass merchants still ahead.
• Mail employment rose sharply.
• Hospital employment keeps growing.
• Pharmacist salaries exceeded those of other healthcare workers, but growth lagged in 2015.

Kelly Walsh, PTNN. This weekly video program provides our readers with an in-depth review of the latest news, product approvals, FDA rulings and more.

Any program that puts more greenbacks in patients' pockets in this post-recession economy has to be viewed as a good one, right? Alas, it depends on the person you ask...Devised to shoulder some of the cost burden of prescription drugs, manufacturer co-pay card programs have been tied to improved adherence rates and reduced barriers to the discounted medications. At the same time, payers — insurers and PBMs alike — are crying foul...While some industry veterans sing the praises of co-pay assistance programs, others are eager for a more evenhanded and efficient solution that will achieve the same degree of cost savings. In fact, the co-pay card appears to be stirring the controversy pot more than ever. Indeed, the question seems to have become: What will make it boil over?

Physicians typically rely on treatment guidelines issued by medical associations, but a new study finds that many experts involved in assembling these guidelines in Canada have financial ties to drug makers. And the study authors recommend that medical societies implement tougher disclosure rules to avoid undermining clinical decisions...researchers...examined 400 financial conflicts of interest statements in connection with the guidelines published in 2012 and 2013...found that relationships with drug makers varied...75 percent of the disclosures, at least one guideline author revealed such a relationship (conflicts of interest) and in 21 percent of the guidelines, all of the authors disclosed a conflict with drug companies...These guidelines...provide specific drug treatment recommendations that are considered to be authoritative regarding doctors・ treatment decisions for their patients...Clinical practice guidelines are also widely distributed by medical associations. Therefore, the financial relationships held by the physician-authors of these guidelines is an important step towards analyzing their choices of drug recommendations...

In every loaf of bread we buy, the total cost of direct selling is buried in its price tag...We accept this because we know that organization within these markets utilize coordinated public relations, marketing and direct sales efforts to grow their revenues...In health care, we tend to see things differently...But somehow, we’re prone to think those involved in the delivery of care are immune to such promotional tactics. We like to think that we’re giving our patients what’s needed based on therapeutic value and hope our decisions aren’t influenced by factors other than safety and efficacy concerns...Today, the role of direct selling in health care is experiencing unwelcome attention and unprecedented pressure. The pharmaceutical industry is a case in point, but lessons are clear across the entire health system...The health care industry needs to adopt stricter codes of ethics and business practices upon which relationships with sales representatives engage in our organizations...management...must take fresh looks at how selling in our organizations is conducted, and how the companies with whom we do business manage their sales processes and personnel...

1. Are confidentiality agreements kept?
2. How are confidentiality agreements monitored?
3. Are consultant, lawyer and accountant credentials verified?
4. Are affirmations in proposals about client satisfaction and relevant engagements independently validated or taken at face value?
5. And is the organization’s posture toward its selling—its culture, compensation and performance evaluation procedures — conducive to principled growth or is selling anything at any cost the unwritten policy that rules the realm?

The selling game in health care is out of the closet.

...the HPV vaccine is still a hard sell...A new study (funded by Merck, which sells the Gardasil HPV vaccine) finds that only 21 percent of parents believe that a law requiring vaccination for attending school is a good idea, and 54 percent disagreed with the notion of such a requirement for school entry altogether. What might make them change their minds? Well, 57 percent reported that they could live with the requirement, but only if there is an opt-out provision... the vaccines have been plagued by numerous reports of side effects. The issue prompted European regulators to investigate although they did not find evidence the vaccines cause chronic pain or dizziness. Earlier this month, meanwhile, 63 young women in Japan filed a class-action lawsuit seeking $9 million in compensation from the central government and the manufacturers over side effects, pain in various parts of their bodies, difficulty walking, and impaired eyesight…

Justin Gallagher, associate publisher of The American Journal of Managed Care. Welcome to This Week in Managed Care from the Managed Markets News Network.