- Big Pharma’s Foe Takes Victory Lap as Drug Price Increases Slow (bloomberg.com)
George Paz’s strategy to rein in drug companies’ price increases is starting to show results. A new analysis shows that attempts by drugmakers to raise prices on their prescription medications are being wiped out in negotiations with managers of drug insurance benefits, led…Express Scripts Holding Co.,.. While list prices for drugs continue to rise rapidly,…U.S. brand-name drug prices rose just 0.7 percent in the second quarter from the previous year…. That’s because companies like Express Scripts and CVS have embarked on strategies to exclude big-selling treatments from lists of covered drugs unless their makers offer better prices...
- NACDS, PhRMA research: Increased Rx use reduces Medicaid recipient’ health costs (drugstorenews.com)
An article citing the positive impact of prescription drugs on reducing other medical costs in the Medicaid program was published Wednesday by the journal Health Affairs' September issue. "Proper use of prescription medications is paramount in helping to improve patient health, especially for those with chronic conditions,"… "This research is further evidence of the impact of taking medications as prescribed – both in helping patients manage their chronic conditions and reducing emergency or catastrophic medical costs associated with medication non-adherence."
- CDC announces $20 million to fight prescription drug abuse (drugstorenews.com)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced…a new program, "Prescription Drug Overdose: Prevention for States," which aims to invest in 16 states currently battling an epidemic of prescription drug overdoses. The program will commit $20 million…part of the Dept. of Health and Human Services’ Opioid initiative… money will go to enhance prescription drug monitoring programs, implementing community-level prevention, responding to overdose issues, developing communications campaigns or surveillance systems and working with providers, health systems and insurers to discuss how to make informed prescribing decisions around pain medication.
- 4 Nontraditional Jobs for Pharmacists (pharmacytimes.com)
Stuck in a pharmacy career rut? Not interested in the traditional job options in retail, independent, or hospital pharmacy? Here are 4 nontraditional jobs for pharmacists:
- NASA Pharmacist
- Nuclear Pharmacist
- Prison Pharmacist
- Medical Writer
- US regulators accept ‘chip in a pill’ application (ft.com)
Smart medicines that tell doctors when their patients have taken them moved a step closer to reality after a company developing the first "digital pill" had its drug application accepted…the pill, produced by Proteus Digital Health, will help ensure patients stick to their prescriptions…Food and Drug Administration had agreed to review its device which is embedded in a schizophrenia medicine (aripiprazole)…new regulatory pathway that allows the pharmaceuticals industry to combine its medical innovation with innovation in software.."smart pill" contains a tiny ingestible sensor that detects when the drug has reached the stomach…It communicates with a wearable patch…then transmits the information to a mobile device.
- Rite Aid dedicates $1.3 million to Folds of Honor (drugstorenews.com)
During the month of September, Rite Aid associates nationwide will honor 274 students who have been named recipients of Folds of Honor educational scholarships provided by the Rite Aid Foundation’s KidCents program…Folds of Honor,..dedicated to providing educational scholarships to children of fallen or disabled veterans…
- IACP Submits Comments on FDA’s Underestimated Time & Cost Burden of Reporting 503B Adverse Events (iacprx.org)IACPodcast 19 - FDA Guidance on 503B Facilities (iacp.site-ym.com)
International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists submitted comments on the Food & Drug Administration's underestimated time and cost burden of reporting adverse events by 503B outsourcing facilities.
- Biosimilars Poised to Impact Specialty Pharmacy (specialtypharmacytimes.com)
Amy Grogg, PharmD, senior vice president of Strategy and Commercialization at AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group, discusses the projected ramifications from the launch of biosimilars in the United States.
- Manufacturers: The Government Wants to Use 340B to Oversee and Publish Your Specialty Channel Strategy (drugchannels.net)340B Drug Pricing Program Omnibus Guidance (federalregister.gov)
Attention, proles! ...Health Resources and Services Administration has released its long-awaited Omnibus Guidance for the 340B Drug Pricing Program…guidance brings some much-needed clarity to the definition of an eligible patient...duplicate discounts…diversion…covered entities audit and monitor contract pharmacies…Unfortunately, HRSA has granted itself intrusive oversight for what it calls "limited distribution plans." Under the guise of auditing manufacturer compliance,…is asserting novel and impractical review and approval authority over manufacturers' channel strategies… every manufacturer is expected to have its channel strategies reviewed and then published…Watch out!
- How Technology and Legislative Issues Could Affect Pharmacy (pharmacytimes.com)
Pat Basu, MD, MBA, chief medical officer of Doctor on Demand, discusses legislative issues and technology that could affect pharmacy.