Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer To Revert To 'Business As Normal' After Pricing Increase Pause, CEO Says On Earnings Call
The Hill: Pfizer CEO: 'Business As Normal' On Drug Prices Next Year Despite Trump Pressure
Pfizer CEO Ian Read said the company will return to “business as normal” on its drug pricing in January, after agreeing to hold off on price increases earlier this year following pressure from President Trump. Read noted on an earnings call that the agreement to hold off on price increases would end at the end of the year, at which point the company will return to pricing based on the market. “We price to the marketplace, we price competitively,” Read said. (Sullivan, 10/30)
The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer Narrows Guidance On Tougher Pricing, Generic Competition
The company attributed the adjustments partly to lower-than-expected revenue from its “Essential Health” business selling products that have lost patent protection and sterile injectables, which are dealing with shortages. Pfizer also cited pricing pressures on the unit’s drugs, along with recent unfavorable foreign-exchange rates due to the weakening of some emerging-market currencies and the euro. (Chin and Rockoff, 10/30)
Reuters: Pfizer Revenue Worse Than Expected As Generic Competition Weighs
Pfizer Inc on Tuesday reported worse-than-expected third quarter revenue and lowered the top end of its full-year sales forecast as generic competition and drug pricing pressure in the United States hurt its older drugs business. Investor attention has been increasingly focused on the company post-2020, with a view toward drugs they hope will be on the market by then. The company has touted its pipeline, which it believes contains 15 drugs with annual sales potential that could exceed $1 billion launching within the next five years. (Mathias and Erman, 10/30)
The Associated Press: Pfizer's 3Q Profit, Up Due To Tax Cut, Beats Expectations
Pfizer posted a 45 percent jump in third-quarter profit, as the biggest U.S.-based drugmaker benefited from sharply lower taxes due to this year’s federal tax cut. The maker of Viagra and nerve pain treatment Lyrica on Tuesday reported net income of $4.11 billion, or 69 cents per share. (Johnson, 10/30)
Bloomberg: Pfizer’s Hospital-Drug Problems Won’t Go Away
Buying Hospira was supposed to open a bright new pharmaceutical future for Pfizer Inc., but problems from the company’s past keep haunting the world’s largest drugmaker. When Pfizer agreed to pay $17 billion to take over Hospira in 2015, the deal was presented as a bet on biosimilars -- cheaper versions of brand-name biologic medications that could steal the thunder from some of Pfizer’s rivals’ biggest products. The move would position Pfizer as the biggest player in a burgeoning medical marketplace. (Koons, Langreth and Edney, 10/30)
The Wall Street Journal: Sanofi Returns To Growth
French pharmaceuticals heavyweight Sanofi SA reported a rise in key third-quarter metrics Wednesday, with its bet on higher-value drugs seeming to offset declining revenue from its diabetes division, long afflicted by the loss of exclusivity for former blockbusters. Net sales at the company increased to 9.39 billion euros ($10.67 billion) from EUR9.06 billion the year prior, buoyed by sales of vaccines and by the specialty-care division Sanofi Genzyme, which grew 36% on year. (Mancini, 10/31)
Reuters: Amgen Posts Higher Quarterly EPS, Repatha Sales Fall Short
Amgen Inc on Tuesday said stock buybacks lifted its third-quarter earnings per share, but operating income fell as expenses rose and sales of some key products declined. Total revenue for the quarter rose 2 percent from a year earlier to $5.9 billion. ... Amgen last week said it slashed the U.S. list price for cholesterol drug Repatha by 60 percent to $5,850 a year, mainly to reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients on Medicare, the federal government’s health plan for seniors. (Beasley, 10/30)
