Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Money-Back Guarantees On Drugs Sound Good But Not All Deals Are Likely To Deliver, Analysis Finds
Stat: Amgen's Money-Back Guarantee For Its Pricey Cholesterol Drug May Not Deliver
Over the past couple of years, drug makers have increasingly explored outcomes-based contracting as a way to convince payers to cover their medicines. Basically, this notion revolves around the idea that an insurer will get a drug at a lower cost if a patient does not benefit as planned. But not all deals are likely to deliver, and a new analysis argued that an agreement offered by Amgen (AMGN) is a notable example. To wit, Amgen sells Repatha, a new type of cholesterol medicine approved in 2015 to treat patients who struggle to control cholesterol using statins, particularly those with an inherited disorder known as familial hypercholesterolemia. Around the same time, Sanofi (SNY) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) won regulatory approval to market a competing treatment. (Silverman, 4/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Drug Price Hike Sparks Senate Probe
Three U.S. senators are seeking more information from a Florida company that has steadily increased the price of a 40-year-old cancer drug, lomustine, in recent years. Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine), Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.) sent a letter dated March 22 to Tri-Source Pharma LLC Chief Executive Robert DiCrisci, saying, “We would like to better understand the factors contributing to the rising cost of lomustine.” Mr. DiCrisci also is CEO of NextSource Biotechnology, the Tri-Source unit that markets the drug under the brand name Gleostine. (Loftus, 4/2)
The Hill: Senators Launch Probe Into Why Price Of Cancer Drug Increased 1400 Percent
Three U.S. senators are asking why a 40-year-old cancer drug has increased in price by 1,400 percent since 2013. The drug in question, lomustine, was introduced in 1976 to treat brain tumors and Hodgkin lymphoma. Lomustine, which has no generic competition, cost $50 for a capsule with the highest dose in 2013. Now a capsule with the same dose costs $768. (Hellmann, 4/2)
Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Bans 'Gag Orders' On Cheaper Cash Prices For Prescriptions
State regulators ordered health insurers and their pharmacy benefits managers Wednesday to cease enforcement of gag orders preventing pharmacists from informing consumers of the lowest drug price available. In addition, the Ohio Department of Insurance prohibited charging consumers more for their prescription medication than it would cost if they paid without insurance, or out of pocket. (Candisky and Rowland, 4/4)
Bloomberg: Walmart Is In Takeover Talks With Pharmacy Startup
Walmart Inc. is in early talks about a deal for closely held PillPack, an online startup that could help grow the retail giant’s pharmacy offerings, according to people familiar with the situation. PillPack and Walmart declined to comment. CNBC first reported the talks Monday, and said the price being discussed was less than $1 billion. It’s not clear if the talks will lead to a deal. (Langreth and Boyle, 4/2)
Stat: Kite Pharma Veterans Launching New Firm To Develop Off-The-Shelf CAR-T
The two former Kite Pharma executives behind a game-changing cancer-killing technology are launching their next act: a new company to develop a suite of so-called off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy assets, designed so that they do not need to be personalized for each cancer patient. Allogene Therapeutics, which was unveiled Tuesday morning, has raised $300 million to acquire and advance a portfolio of experimental cell therapies previously controlled by Pfizer. As a consequence of the deal, Pfizer is getting out of the business of being a major CAR-T player, though it will take a 25 percent ownership stake in Allogene. (Robbins, 4/3)
CNN: Big Pharma's Cash Flood Is Drowning Seniors
Big Pharma is jacking up prices for one reason -- because it can. This is why the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare advocates that Medicare be required (or at least allowed) to negotiate prescription drug prices with Big Pharma -- an idea Republicans have by and large opposed since the Medicare Part D program was enacted in 2003. In fact, the original Medicare Part D legislation forbade the government from negotiating drug prices with manufacturers. (Richtman, 4/3)
Stat: Houston Aspires To Become The 'Third Coast' Of Biotech. Can It Pull It Off?
It was a banner achievement for MD Anderson Cancer Center. Top biotech investors had licensed some of its research to launch a high-profile cancer diagnostic and therapeutics company, backed by more than $80 million. (Joseph, 3/29)
Bloomberg: Allergan Weighs Options For Women's Health Unit
Allergan Plc, which has been looking for ways to counter its stock slump as new threats to its top-selling skin and eye drugs have emerged, is considering options for its women’s health unit, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The specialty pharmaceuticals product maker has held talks with advisers about strategic options for the unit, including a sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. A sale, which would likely to attract interest from private equity firms, could value the business at more than $5 billion, the people said. (Porter and Baigorri, 4/2)
Forbes: Pharma Middlemen Have Targets On Their Backs
What’s a great way for Amazon to prove it can make America’s healthcare system better for consumers? Cut the cost of a high priced generic drug by getting it out of the reimbursement structure dominated by middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), according to Julie Grant, a partner at VC firm Canaan Partners and board member of the Biden Cancer Initiative. (Kincaid, 3/28)
Cincinnati Enquirer: P&G Reportedly Interested In Pfizer Consumer Health Unit
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble is reportedly negotiating with Pfizer Inc. over the sale of the largest U.S. drugmaker's consumer health business. CNBC reported the talks late Tuesday morning, citing unnamed sources. P&G did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Tucker and Coolidge, 4/3)
Bloomberg: Health-Care M&A Balloons In Busiest Start In More Than A Decade
Health-care companies have revved the deals engine back into high gear. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s possible acquisition of Shire Plc, with its market value of $45 billion, would boost the sector’s year-to-date deals to well above $200 billion, the most for a first quarter in at least a dozen years. Announced health-care transactions have already reached about $156 billion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Baigorri, 3/28)
Stat: Sanofi And Regeneron Encounter More Payer Resistance Over New Eczema Drug — This Time, In The U.K.
Once again, Sanofi (SNY) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (REGN) are running into roadblocks trying to win over payers with their new drug for severe eczema. The latest frustration is occurring in the U.K., where a government watchdog decided the drug would not be cost effective. The cost estimates for the drug, which is known as Dupixent, were considered “too high” to be a “good use of National Health Services resources,” according to a draft guidelines that were released on Tuesday by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The annual cost, based on list price, would be about $23,000 per year for 26 injections, according to a briefing report. (Silverman, 4/3)
Bloomberg: Shire Surges On News Of Possible Takeda Bid
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. said it’s considering an approach for Shire Plc that would boost its position in drugs for cancer, gastrointestinal diseases and nervous-system ailments. An acquisition, which would be the Japanese drugmaker’s biggest purchase, would widen its capabilities in key areas and provide it with treatments that are approaching the market, Takeda said in a statement Wednesday. Shire, which is based in Lexington, Massachusetts, but listed in London, gained as much as 26 percent after the announcement, giving it a market value of nearly 35 billion pounds ($50 billion). (Lauerman and Paton, 3/28)
Reuters: Platinum Equity Lines Up US$1.9 Billion Of Debt For J&J Diabetes Care Unit Bid
Private equity firm Platinum Equity’s US$2.1 billion (£1.4 billion)offer to acquire blood glucose monitoring systems maker LifeScan, Inc from US health care products company Johnson & Johnson is backed by US$1.875bn of loans, according to two sources familiar with the matter. J&J has been evaluating strategic options for the troubled unit, as well as its other diabetes care businesses, which include insulin pumps maker Animas Corp and wearable insulin pumps maker Calibra Medical Inc, since January 2017 amid falling sales. The company last October announced it would close down Animas after failing to find a buyer. (Berlin, 3/27)
Stat: Drug-Loaded Hydrogel Responds To Arthritis Flare-Ups In Real Time
Scientists have created a drug-loaded hydrogel that can be injected into a joint and respond in real time to an arthritis flare-up. Biomedical engineer Jeff Karp and his colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tucked an arthritis drug, triamcinolone acetonide, inside a hydrogel that breaks down as inflammation in the knee joints of arthritic mice ramps up. Alivio Therapeutics — a biotech company co-founded by Karp — is working to use the technology on a range of inflammatory diseases. (Thielking, 4/3)
FierceHealthcare: Massachusetts Healthcare Cost Growth Beat Its Benchmark, But Commission Says Drug Prices Are Still A Concern
For the seventh year in a row, the growth of medical spending in Massachusetts was slower than in the rest of the country. Massachusetts’ total healthcare costs grew 2.8% in 2016, below the national growth rate of 3.5%, according to the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC). State healthcare spending also fell below the 3.6% benchmark set by the HPC, an independent state agency. (Caramenico, 4/3)
