Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
New Hep C Tests Could Be Pivotal In Lowering Cost Of Expensive Treatment
The Associated Press: New Tests For Choosing Right Hep C Drug Could Save Money
New tests designed to help doctors pick the right hepatitis C medicine for patients could mean faster cures and lower costs. Quest Diagnostics Inc.’s latest two tests can predict whether two recently approved medicines — Zepatier and Daklinza —will fight a patient’s specific type of hepatitis C or whether the liver-destroying virus likely would “resist” them. Several months ago, Quest had launched other tests to help doctors decide if four older medicines would suit patients. (Johnson, 4/14)
The Associated Press: N.Y. Attorney General Sues Insurer Over Hepatitis C Treatment
New York's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against an Albany-area health insurer that he says broke the law by denying coverage for expensive hepatitis C treatments until patients showed advanced symptoms of the disease such as moderate to severe liver scarring. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the suit against Capital District Physicians' Health Plan on Thursday. (4/14)
In other pharmaceutical news —
The Wall Street Journal: FDA To Review Bristol-Myers’s Opdivo For Hodgkin Lymphoma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s supplemental biologics license application to expand the use of its cancer drug Opdivo to patients who are facing difficult-to-treat variations of Hodgkin lymphoma, the pharmaceutical company said Thursday. Bristol-Myers wants to use Opdivo to treat patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma—a type of cancer that most often starts in the lymph nodes—who have already tried other therapies. (Hufford, 4/14)
The Washington Post: Va.’s Top Pharmacy Official Questioned Legality Of Plan To Special-Order Execution Drugs
Pharmacies that go along with Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s plan to secretly supply Virginia with execution drugs risk breaking state and federal laws governing controlled substances, a top administration official said in internal emails going back more than two years. McAuliffe (D) this week proposed allowing the state to hire compounding pharmacies to make lethal-injection drugs, which have become scarce amid public pressure on American pharmaceutical companies and a European export ban. (Vozzella, 4/14)
