Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Critical Antibiotics To Be First Products Supplied By Nonprofit Drugmaking Venture Established By Hospital Coalition
The Wall Street Journal: Hospital Drug-Making Venture Picks Antibiotics As First Products
Two critical antibiotics will be the first products supplied by a group of hospitals that are trying to overcome high drug prices and short supplies by producing the medicines themselves. Civica Rx, the nonprofit drugmaking venture established by the hospitals, plans to begin distributing vancomycin hydrochloride and daptomycin before the end of September, according to Civica’s chief executive. (Evans, 5/15)
Stat: New Ventures Strike Deals With Drug Makers To Combat Shortages
The efforts reflect the extent to which drug shortages continue to plague hospitals and the pharmaceutical supply chain more broadly. Over the past decade, a growing number of generic drugs in particular have been hard to obtain as manufacturers encounter quality control issues or some companies cease production of low-profit medicines. “Some of the drugs have gotten to a price so low that no quality manufacturer wants to produce the products without a sustainable financial model. So a lot have chosen to exit” the market, Michael Moloney, group vice president of integrated pharmacy at Premier, told us recently. “We see the problem as a structural inefficiency.” (Silverman, 5/15)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Stat: Gilead Struck Anti-Competitive Deals To Hike HIV Drug Profits: Lawsuit
In a bid to maintain its dominance in the HIV market, Gilead Sciences (GILD) allegedly conspired with other drug makers whose medicines were part of a so-called combination cocktail in order to block generic competition, according to a lawsuit filed by AIDS activists and two unions. The complaint describes an unusual scheme concerning these cocktails, which are actually fixed-dose combinations of different medicines and have been widely used for several years to combat the virus. Although Gilead has been a dominant player in the HIV marketplace, other companies manufacture HIV medicines that are useful components in a cocktail treatment. (Silverman, 5/14)
Stat: Myovant’s Uterine Fibroid Drug Worked In Phase 3. Now Comes Competition
Myovant Sciences, part of a constellation of biotech startups, said Tuesday that its treatment for uterine fibroids succeeded in the first of two large trials, a major step toward winning approval. The drug, relugolix, met its goal of significantly reducing menstrual blood loss over 24 weeks and beat placebo on six other metrics including pain and quality of life. In the roughly 400-patient trial, relugolix was similar to placebo, including on the key measure of bone density. (Garde, 5/14)
