Cigna Offers Cash To Get Patients To Switch From Costly Biological Drugs

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Paying Members To Use Biosimilars Draws Providers Ire
Cigna pays members to switch to biological drugs that it says are clinically equivalent and cheaper—a new policy provoking objections from providers, who maintain that it crosses the line between covering medical expenses and practicing medicine—and that it threatens patients' health. Cigna, a Bloomfield, Connecticut-based insurer with 14 million members, offers patients $500 prepaid debit cards when they switch to biosimilar versions of the biologic drugs Cosentyx, which is used to treat psoriasis and certain types of arthritis, and Remicade, which is used on patients with psoriasis, arthritis and gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's disease. Patients can choose between two biosimilar medications for each of the brand-name drugs. (Tepper, 7/21)

Axios: Anthem Still Determining What To Do With Aduhelm
Anthem is "going to continue to evaluate" the data around Aduhelm, the controversial Alzheimer's drug, before making final insurance coverage decisions, CEO Gail Boudreaux told investors Wednesday. Several other Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers have said they will not cover Aduhelm, but Anthem is still weighing the options like its competitor UnitedHealth, which also wants to wait and see what the federal government says. (Herman, 7/21)

In other biotech and research developments —

Stat: Pacific Biosciences To Buy Smaller DNA Sequencing Firm For Up To $800M
Pacific Biosciences of California, a maker of DNA sequencing equipment that has seen its stock rise dramatically in recent years, said Tuesday that it will purchase Omniome, a smaller rival, for up to $800 million. PacBio, as the firm is known, will offer $600 million, half in cash and half in stock, up front. It will pay another $200 million when and if  machines based on Omniome’s technology first ship to customers. In order to finance the deal, PacBio is selling $300 million in a private placement to existing investors. (Herper, 7/20)

Stat: Rapid Sequencing Saved A Mysteriously Ill Baby In Record Time
When the boy was brought to the San Diego emergency department one night last October, he was inconsolable. Within about half an hour, clinicians had a clue of what was wrong: A CT scan showed signs of disease in the 5-week-old’s brain. There was another clue, too, but also a portent: A decade earlier, the parents’ infant daughter had presented with some of the same symptoms at around the same age, but never received a diagnosis. She developed seizures and died at 11 months. All that pointed to a genetic condition. But those warning signs in the brain, called encephalopathy, could be caused by some 1,500 such diseases. (Joseph, 7/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: When No One Can Explain A Disease, New UW Clinic Will Seek The Answer
Twelve years after scientists in Wisconsin delved into all the genes of a young Madison-area boy, diagnosed a new disease and saved the child's life, a new clinic will try to do the same for scores of other people suffering from mysterious illnesses. The University of Wisconsin Center for Human Genomics and Precision Medicine opened a new clinic Friday that will use the latest genetic technology, and exploit connections to top scientists around the world in order to help patients who have been at the mercy of unknown diseases. (Johnson, 7/20)

Stat: Scientists Produce First Genetically Engineered Marsupials
When the pile of opossums arrived at John VandeBerg’s lab from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in 1978, the geneticist had an ambitious plan for the soft-eyed, hamster-sized animals. He wanted to domesticate them to live in a lab anywhere on the planet. Mice were well and good, but imagine what biomedical insights might be lurking inside marsupials, he thought. Their young, rather than being encased inside a uterus, develop attached to a nipple in a pouch or on a belly where they’re much easier to observe. (Molteni, 7/21)