Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Pfizer Warns Some Drug Supplies May Be Affected By Tornado Strike
Reuters: Pfizer Says Supply Of Some Drugs May Be Disrupted After NC Tornado
Drugmaker Pfizer Inc said over 30 drugs, including injections of painkiller fentanyl and anesthetic lidocaine, may see supply disruption after a tornado destroyed a warehouse at its Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant last week. (7/24)
The Washington Post: Pfizer Drug Shortage Possible After Tornado Hits North Carolina Plant
The nation is already short of some of the products Pfizer said could be affected, according to a list maintained by the American Society of Hospital Pharmacists, which represents 60,000 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. They include products containing lidocaine, morphine and fentanyl. Pfizer said it had identified products that could be in short supply after assessing its market share and inventory levels. The Rocky Mount plant, which has 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing space, the firm said, makes almost 8 percent of all sterile injectable drugs used in American hospitals, including anesthesia, therapeutics and neuromuscular blockers. The tornado didn’t cause major damage to the production area. (Jeong, 7/25)
In news on a big deal for high blood pressure drugs —
The Boston Globe: Alnylam Signs $2.8 Billion Deal With Roche To Advance Cambridge Biotech’s Injection For High Blood Pressure
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals will receive $310 million in cash from the Swiss drug giant Roche Holding AG and be eligible for as much as $2.5 billion more in a deal to jointly develop and market the Cambridge biotech’s novel potential treatment for high blood pressure. The firms announced on Monday that they will collaborate on Alnylam’s drug candidate, zilebesiran, which is undergoing testing in two mid-stage clinical trials. Unlike approved treatments for hypertension that require patients to take daily pills, the experimental medicine is given as an injection every few months. (Saltzman, 7/24)
Stat: Roche’s Alnylam Deal Shows Drug Firms Interested In Heart Drugs
Roche’s announcement Monday that it would pay $310 million for rights to a hypertension treatment, zilebesiran, invented by the biotech firm Alnylam is evidence of a renewed interest on the part of large pharmaceutical companies for treatments for cardiovascular disease. If things go well, Roche could pay Alnylam up to $2.8 billion in total. (Herper, 7/24)
On other financial developments in the industry —
Modern Healthcare: How A Recession Could Benefit A Tight Healthcare Labor Market
National industry leaders are warily eyeing the horizon for a potential recession, but for healthcare organizations, an economic downturn could bring some benefits. Hospitals, health systems and other provider organizations have struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, battling the financial impacts of rising prices and historically high labor costs. The organizations have pledged to reduce reliance on contract labor and normalize pay increases for workers, but an ongoing staffing shortage is forcing providers to keep hiking wages and bonuses and/or look outside the industry to fill gaps. (Hudson, 7/24)
The Hill: Five Largest US Pharma Firms’ Net Earnings Topped $81.9 Billion Last Year: Watchdog
The five largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies by market cap — Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, AbbVie and Pfizer — reported combined earnings of $81.9 billion in 2022, an $8 billion increase from 2021, according to a new analysis by Accountable.US. The left-leaning corporate watchdog found the firms’ combined stock buybacks and dividends increased by $4.4 billion and $2.5 billion, respectively, from 2021 to 2022. (Giorno, 7/24)
Bloomberg: Sam Altman, Valley VCs Bet $48 Million On Blood-Testing Startup
Vital Biosciences Inc. plans to unveil new technology on Monday that it says can use a few drops of blood for 50 lab-grade tests in 20 minutes. The idea will give cold sweats to any investor familiar with Theranos Inc. That company, too, aimed to run large numbers of tests on small amounts of blood. It didn’t work, and its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, is currently serving 11 years in prison for fraud after the company rode a $9 billion valuation down to zero. (McBride, 7/24)
Reuters: Becton Dickinson Shares Hit Record High After US FDA Clears Return Of Drug Infusion System
Shares of Becton Dickinson hit an all-time high on Monday and were last up 6.1% after the medical device maker received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance late on Friday for the market return of its drug infusion system. (7/24)
Also —
Reuters: Kodiak Sciences Scraps Development Of Eye Drug, Shares Slump
Kodiak Sciences will abandon further development of its lead drug to treat a type of eye disease after it failed in two late-stage studies, the company said on Monday, sending its shares tumbling more than 50%. The decision comes after the drug, tarcocimab tedromer, failed to improve vision in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) — the most common diabetes-related cause of vision loss — in two late-stage studies. (Sunny, 7/24)
Modern Healthcare: Health Layoffs, Closures: Latest Updates On Industry Cuts
Biofourmis, a digital health and technology company, announced it had trimmed its global workforce by 18 percent or 120 employees. The company said the largest impact will be on its international operations outside of the United States. According to a written statement, most of the roles were operational and administrative. Of those employees laid off, 48 of them were based in the United States. (7/24)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Jefferson Health Layoffs To Affect 400 Positions
Jefferson Health, the largest health system in the Philadelphia region by number of hospitals, this week is reducing its workforce by 1%, or about 400 positions, in a bid to curb its financial losses by eliminating duplication in the not-for-profit system that grew rapidly though acquisitions before the pandemic. (Brubaker, 7/24)
