After Slashing Its Price, Novo Nordisk Discontinues Levemir Insulin In US
Last March, Novo reduced the list price of Levemir by 65%, but USA Today says that American diabetes patients who've benefited from this price drop (and other price caps) are set to be disappointed because the drug is being withdrawn from sale. Novo has not said it will do so in other countries.
USA Today:
Levemir Insulin Will Be Discontinued
Diabetes patients who depend on insulin recently got a financial break when the three major insulin manufacturers enacted dramatic price cuts. Novo Nordisk announced last March it would slash the list price of Levemir by 65%. But the good news was short-lived. The drugmaker will stop selling the injectable FlexPen version of Levemir in April and will halt sales of Levemir vials by the end of December. The company has not announced plans to discontinue the drug in other countries. In a statement to USA TODAY last week, Novo Nordisk said it would discontinue U.S. sales of Levemir because of a combination of factors, including global manufacturing constraints and the availability of other forms of insulin. The company also cited pharmacy managers and insurers who limited access to Levemir on drug formularies, the list of drugs insurers cover for patients. (Alltucker, 1/28)
More on the high cost of drugs and health care —
Bloomberg:
Weight-Loss Drugs Dropped In North Carolina As Costs Soar
North Carolina is cutting off coverage of anti-obesity medications for state employees, citing soaring costs and a lack of agreement on pricing from drugmakers. The decision affects a class of drugs known as GLP-1s, which are used to treat diabetes along with helping with weight loss. The medications, like Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound, have soared in popularity, but are expensive and require long-term use. (Foxman and Muller, 1/27)
The New York Times:
Buried In Wegovy Costs, North Carolina Will Stop Paying For Obesity Drugs
For the employers and health plans that cover most of the cost of prescription drugs, the bill for these medications is overwhelming — and now coming due. In recent months, the University of Texas system and the hospital chain Ascension have stopped paying for the drugs for their workers. Those that continue to cover the drugs are imposing new restrictions meant to cut costs. The Mayo Clinic, for example, will now provide a lifetime benefit of only $20,000 for the drugs for its employees. Medicare, by comparison, does not cover medications prescribed for weight loss, but does cover weight-loss surgery. (Robbins, 1/26)
Charlotte Ledger:
Charlotte Leaders Urge Atrium To Consider Working With Charity That Abolishes Medical Debt
At-large Charlotte City Council member Dimple Ajmera is urging Atrium Health to consider working with RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit that buys unpaid medical debt and forgives it. Ajmera said she reached out to Atrium CEO Gene Woods last month after reading a Charlotte Ledger/NC Health News article about the hospital’s refusal to enter into discussions with RIP. (Crouch, 1/29)
Stat:
Pricey Sickle Cell Treatments Raise Daunting New Challenges For Medicaid Programs
Living with sickle cell disease has not been easy on Kourtney Cunningham. The genetic blood disorder typically causes her to experience three episodes of extreme pain each month and she can end up in the hospital at least twice a year due to these crises. Then there are blood transfusions every four weeks. So when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first two curative gene therapies for sickle cell, she allowed herself to become hopeful, even though treatment requires chemotherapy that might cause various side effects. These include lowered immunity, hair loss, and infertility. (Silverman, 1/29)
Also —
Stat:
Merck, Johnson & Johnson CEOs Will Testify On High Drug Prices
Merck CEO Robert Davis and Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato have agreed to voluntarily testify before the Senate health committee, avoiding a threatened subpoena, the committee announced Friday. (Cohrs, 1/26)
Axios:
The Health Care Problems That Money Doesn’t Want To Solve
Some of America's most challenging behavioral health care problems include a key disadvantage: They're not very profitable to treat. Serious mental illness and addiction have a profound effect on families and communities, but their complexity and their concentration among lower-income people make them issues that the private market has little incentive to solve. (Owens, 1/29)
