Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Court Allows Kentucky To Ration Hepatitis C Treatment Among Prisoners
AP: Appeals Court Upholds Rationing Of Hepatitis C Treatment
The Kentucky Department of Corrections can deny a life-saving but expensive hepatitis C medication to inmates, a federal appeals court ruled in a split decision. The dissenting judge in last week’s 2-1 ruling at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the majority’s opinion will condemn hundreds of prisoners to long-term organ damage and suffering, The Courier-Journal reported. (7/10)
Fox News: Globalization Hits Home: Mylan Pharmaceuticals And The Mountain State
Two weeks before Christmas Day in 2020, nearly 1,500 workers at the Viatris facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, formerly known as Mylan, were met with devastating news. The company had decided to shut down operations at the 56-year-old pharmaceutical plant. The workers’ jobs would be sent overseas to India and Australia. (Jilani and Wall, 7/11)
Stat: Gene Therapy Trial Points To A Wider Window To Alter Course Of Rare Disease
The suspicion that something was wrong started when the 1-year-old girl’s parents noticed she had trouble holding up her head. It was just the first of what would be many missed developmental milestones. By the time she was 8, the little girl still couldn’t sit up on her own, hold a toy, or say hello. (Molteni, 7/12)
The New York Times: How Much Longer Can Martin Shkreli Control A Pharma Firm From Prison?
For years, Kevin Mulleady was an ally of Martin Shkreli. He worked for one of the pharmaceutical executive’s hedge funds and later served as an executive at the company where Mr. Shkreli infamously raised a lifesaving drug’s price 5,000 percent. Now, Mr. Mulleady is teaming up with activist investors to persuade his fellow shareholders to give them control of that drugmaker’s parent company, Phoenixus. (Phoenixus’ operating subsidiary, once known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, is now called Vyera.) There, he says, Mr. Shkreli still maintains control despite being in prison for securities fraud and not up for release until late 2023. (de la Merced, 7/9)
