- Transatlantic divide: how U.S. pays three times more for drugs (reuters.com)Transatlantic drug price divide graphic (pdf.reuters.com)
U.S. prices for the world's 20 top-selling medicines are…three times higher than in Britain… Researchers…also found U.S. prices were consistently higher than in other European markets…The United States, which leaves pricing to market competition, has higher drug prices than other countries where governments directly or indirectly control medicine costs…That makes it by far the most profitable market for pharmaceutical companies, leading to complaints that Americans are effectively subsidizing health systems elsewhere…Manufacturers say decent returns are needed to reward high-risk research…also point to higher U.S. survival rates for diseases such as cancer and the availability of industry-backed access schemes for poorer citizens…Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America says international comparisons are misleading because list prices do not take into account discounts available as a result of "aggressive negotiation" by U.S. insurers.
- AbbVie buys special review voucher for $350 million (reuters.com)
AbbVie Inc has bought a (FDA) priority review voucher from United Therapeutics Corp for $350 million that will allow it to accelerate the review process for one of its drugs…pediatric disease priority review voucher…eligible to have one of its drugs reviewed in six months, compared to the standard 10 months...AbbVie did not disclose its plans for the voucher...
- China to expand medical insurance for major illnesses (newsdaily.com)
China will expand medical insurance to cover all critical illnesses...State Council said 50 percent of the medical costs will be covered by insurance…healthcare … struggles with a scarcity of doctors, attacks by patients on medical staff and a fragmented drug distribution...
- PharmTalk – Specialty Pharmacy (pharmacy.arizona.edu)
PharmTalk is a special production from the University of Arizona, College of Pharmacy that features Keith and Kevin Boesen.
Not every drugstore is the same. Some pharmacists work in small stores that provide specialized services for people with particular needs, like HIV or cancer.
- How Bioinformatics Could Find The Next Breakthrough Cancer Drug (forbes.com)Automated profiling of individual cell–cell interactions from high-throughput time-lapse imaging microscopy in nanowell grids (TIMING) (bioinformatics.oxfordjournals.org)
Immunotherapy is being hailed as the future of cancer treatment. Harnessing the body’s own immune system to attack and kill cancer cells,..surging in the biotech and pharmaceutical space…identifying more high-performing immune cells… Engineers..with physicians… have invented new software that can pinpoint tens of thousands – and even hundreds of thousands – of these cells…
- Precision medicine, linked to DNA, still too often misses (bostonglobe.com)
precision medicine is more complicated than portrayed by politicians and even some top health officials. Contrary to its name, precision medicine is often inexact, which means that for some patients, it will offer false hope rather than a cure…
- Large Employers Look To Tighten Control Of Costs For Expensive Drugs (khn.org)
More than half of large employers in 2016 will aim to more tightly manage employees’ use of high-priced specialty drugs, one of the fastest-growing expenses in their health plans…companies still expect the cost of specialty drugs…continue rising at a double-digit annual rate — well ahead of the pace for traditional pharmacy drugs or companies’ overall spending on health benefits…