Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
EpiPen Maker Agrees To $264 Million Antitrust Settlement
The New York Times: Viatris Settles EpiPen Antitrust Litigation For $264 Million
Viatris, the drugmaker previously known as Mylan, announced on Monday that it had agreed to pay $264 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the company was involved in an illegal scheme to monopolize the market for epinephrine auto-injector devices known as EpiPens, which are used to treat severe allergic reactions. The proposed settlement, which needs to be approved by a judge, would resolve a legal battle that began after Mylan, in 2016, raised the price for a pack of two EpiPens to $608 from $100, the price since 2007, according to court documents. (Jimenez, 2/28)
In other pharmaceutical industry news —
Stat: UC Berkeley Loses CRISPR Patent Case, Invalidating Licenses It Granted
Ending the latest chapter in a years-long legal battle over who invented CRISPR, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled on Monday that the revolutionary genome editing technology belongs to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. The decision is a blow to the University of California and biotech companies that had licensed the technology from the university for use in developing treatments, including Intellia Therapeutics and CRISPR Therapeutics. They will now have to negotiate with the Broad Institute for the right to use CRISPR for human therapies. (Molteni, 2/28)
Stat: Why A Big Compounding Pharmacy Recently Recalled All Its Products
Last December, a little-known compounding pharmacy recalled all of its products due to “process issues that could lead to a lack of sterility,” according to a statement issued at the time by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Now, the extent of those problems has been made clear after the agency posted a 28-page report by its inspectors, who last fall found a plethora of filthy conditions at a facility run by Edge Pharma, which compounds numerous medicines for hospitals, surgery centers, and clinics for more than a dozen different therapeutic areas including urology, ophthalmology, and neurology. (Silverman, 2/28)
Axios: Health Tech Developers Want To Help You Sleep
Venture capitalists are amping up their bets in sleep and movement tracking, according to a new PitchBook report. Startups and tech giants have been working on fitness and sleep devices for roughly the past decade, and today, affluent consumers have their pick of Oura rings, Whoop bands, Apple Watches and Google Nests. Wearables have been popular for ages, but Amazon and Google began investing in bedside sleep trackers last year. (Brodwin, 2/28)
The New York Times: Dr. Bronner’s, The Soap Company, Dips Into Psychedelics
Dr. Bronner’s, the liquid soap company best known for its teeny-font labels preaching brotherly love and world peace, would like you to consider the benefits of mind-altering drugs. The sentiment is promoted on limited-edition soap bottles that sing the praises of psychedelic-assisted therapies, and through the trippy pronouncements of David Bronner, grandson of the company’s founder and one of its top executives, who is not shy about sharing details of his many hallucinogenic journeys. (Jacobs, 2/28)
