Pharmacies Finding It Hard To Recruit Next Generation Of Pharmacists
"We have got to evolve this to get people excited to get back in the industry," Rick Gates, chief pharmacy officer at Walgreens, told Axios. Separately, an analysis of injector pen patents for several widely used diabetes drugs (including Ozempic) found more than half have improperly listed patents.
Axios:
Pharmacies Are Struggling To Refill Their Own Ranks
Pharmacy retail chains staking their future on expanding the health care services they offer are running into a big problem: It's getting harder to draw the next generation of pharmacists amid turmoil in the industry. (Reed, 2/6)
Also —
Stat:
Diabetes Treatments Have Improperly Listed Patents, Analysis Finds
More than half of the injector-pen patents for several widely used diabetes treatments — including Ozempic and Mounjaro — do not mention several important characteristics that should otherwise prevent them from being listed in a key federal registry, according to a new analysis. As a result, the researchers contend the patents may be unfairly used to preclude competition from companies that may want to market lower-cost generic products. (Silverman, 2/5)
Reuters:
Parents Seek To Revive Claims They Overpaid For Abbott Formula Before Recall
Parents who say they overpaid for Abbott Laboratories' baby formula before one of its plants was shuttered for unsanitary conditions urged a federal appeals court on Monday to revive their lawsuit against the company. Kiley Grombacher of Bradley Grombacher, a lawyer for the parents, told a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that her clients would not have bought, or would have paid less, for Similac and other Abbott brands if they had known of the safety risks that led to the plant shutdown and a subsequent recall. (Pierson, 2/5)
Bloomberg:
Johnson & Johnson Worker Alleges Company Overpaid For Prescription Drugs
Johnson & Johnson was sued by an employee who said the company’s health plan wasted workers’ money by paying inflated prices for prescription drugs. In one instance, the health plan agreed to pay more than $10,000 for a drug to treat multiple sclerosis, a chronic nerve condition, that’s available for as little as $40 at retail pharmacies, according to the suit filed Monday in federal court in Camden, New Jersey. (Tozzi and Dolmetsch, 2/5)
Reuters:
US Appeals Court Finds Bayer Not Shielded From Roundup Lawsuit
A U.S. appeals court on Monday refused to dismiss a Georgia doctor's lawsuit claiming that Bayer AG's Roundup weedkiller caused cancer, the latest setback in the German company's efforts to fend off thousands of similar cases carrying potentially billions of dollars in liability. A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bayer's argument that federal regulators' approval of Roundup shielded the company from being sued under state law for failing to warn consumers of the product's risks. Several other appeals courts had previously reached the same conclusion in similar lawsuits. (Pierson, 2/5)
On weight loss drugs —
Reuters:
FDA Website Shows Limited Availability Of Some Doses Of Lilly's Mounjaro
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) website showed that three higher doses of Eli Lilly's tab diabetes drug, Mounjaro, would be available only in limited amounts through early March 2024, due to increased demand. According to the health regulator's website, 10, 12.5 and 15 milligram doses of the injection will have limited availability, while lower doses of Mounjaro were shown to be available. (2/5)
Stat:
Novo’s Catalent Deal Is Great For GLP-1s. But What About Drug Manufacturing?
Sixteen billion dollars is a lot of money. But Monday’s announcement that the parent company of Novo Nordisk, the maker of the weight loss drug Wegovy, plans to buy Catalent, a company to which drugmakers outsource manufacturing, is probably even more important than it seems. (Herper, 2/5)
WBUR:
Drugs Like Ozempic Can Help Weight Loss, But Not Without Ethical And Health Concerns
Last Thursday, the state decided not to pay for it any longer. Celebrities and people like Elon Musk who can afford $1,000 a month for Ozempic and Wegovy can still get them. However, a nurse in North Carolina told The New York Times that finding Wegovy is like winning the lottery. ... Injectible drugs like Ozempic help about half of users lose significant amounts of weight without making lifestyle changes, Caplan says. Like Viagra, the drugs put a Band-Aid over an underlying problem, he says. (Young, Miller-Medzon, and Hagan, 2/5)
