Requirements For Pharma To Put Prices In TV Ads March Forward Despite Objections, Questions Of Efficacy

The New York Times: Drug Prices On TV? They May Be Coming.
The Trump administration is moving ahead with its proposal to require drug companies to disclose the often sky-high prices of their products in television commercials, despite strenuous objections and the threat of legal challenges by drug makers and TV broadcasters. The White House is reviewing the text of a final rule to impose the requirement, contending that the disclosures “will provide manufacturers with an incentive to reduce their list prices by exposing overly costly drugs to public scrutiny.” (Pear, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Gilead Profits From Tuvada HIV Treatment Funded By Taxpayers And Patented By The U.S. Government
Thomas Folks spent years in his U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab developing a treatment to block deadly HIV in monkeys. Then San Francisco AIDS researcher Robert Grant, using $50 million in federal grants, proved the treatment worked in people who engaged in risky sex. Their work — almost fully funded by U.S. taxpayers — created a new use for an older prescription drug called Truvada: preventing HIV infection. But the U.S. government, which patented the treatment in 2015, is not receiving a penny for that use of the drug from Gilead Sciences, ­Truvada’s maker, which earned $3 billion in Truvada sales last year. (Rowland, 3/26)

Stat: Gilead And Louisiana Agree To A 'Netflix' Model For Hepatitis C Drugs 
After months of planning, the Louisiana Department of Health has chosen a new Gilead Sciences (GILD) subsidiary to supply a hepatitis C medicine under a so-called Netflix payment model. The deal revolves around subscription-based payments. Asegua Therapeutics, the Gilead unit, has agreed to provide the state Medicaid program and Department of Corrections with unlimited access to an authorized generic version of the Epclusa treatment for a fixed amount of money for five years, according to the state Department of Health. A contract is expected to be finalized by June 1. (Silverman, 3/26)

USA Today: Diabetes And Insulin Costs: Diabetics Struggle As Drug Prices Soar
Meaghan Carter died alone on the sofa of her suburban Dayton, Ohio, apartment last Christmas. Like most people with Type 1 diabetes, the 47-year-old nurse had a kit of essential supplies within reach. It contained two empty vials of her preferred insulin, a partial vial of inexpensive Walmart insulin and a half-filled container of testing strips to measure blood glucose levels. Uninsured, between jobs and with $50 in a bank account, Carter probably had attempted to stretch a limited supply of insulin until she got a final paycheck from her last job, family members say. She was scheduled to begin a new nursing job the following week that offered health insurance. (Alltucker, 3/22)

Stat: Mark Of A Job Well Done For A CRISPR Lobbyist? Silence In Congress 
It’s arguably the most cutting-edge and potentially lucrative area of biomedical science and now, to protect their investments, companies commercializing CRISPR genome editing technology are looking to shore up their Washington bonafides. But unlike their comrades in the conventional drug world, CRISPR lobbyists aren’t blitzing every office on Capitol Hill with a slate of pro-industry proposals. The goal is more understated: to make sure the companies with experimental treatments just now entering the clinic are unimpeded by government bureaucracies. (Florko, 3/27)

Modern Healthcare: As A Cure For High Drug Prices, Outcomes-Based Deals Aren't Delivering Yet
Facing growing calls for regulating prescription drug prices, the pharmaceutical industry has touted a preferred alternative for making drugs more affordable—private deals in which health plans pay them more or less for a drug depending on how well it works for plan members. But insurers and independent experts say outcomes-based contracting has made slow and uncertain progress since it was introduced in the past decade, with few if any published results. While it may help on the margins with some drugs, many observers doubt it offers a viable solution to the broad problem of prescription drug affordability in the U.S. (Meyer, 3/23)

Stat: Esketamine May Solve Depression Need, But Not Be Cost-Effective
FacebookLinkedInEmailDoximityPrintThe first major depression treatment to hit the U.S. market in decades may be a new option for patients who fail to respond to existing therapies, but a preliminary analysis shows the price of the medicine would have to be shaved by 25 percent in order to be cost effective. Known as esketamine and marketed as Spravato, the nasal spray was developed by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), which set a list price of $590 to $885 per treatment session, depending on dosing and number of sessions, which can vary by patient. (Silverman, 3/22)

Modern Healthcare: Dignity Launches Its Own Specialty Pharmacy
Dignity Health is the latest health system to enter the specialty pharmacy market. The not-for-profit provider launched its own program to distribute medications for more than 20 complex diseases, and it plans to expand services to its broader national network of CommonSpirit Health. Peggy Sanborn, vice president of strategic growth, mergers and acquisitions, and partnership integration at Dignity Health, said the health system began its specialty pharmacy program at the end of last year in its Phoenix market and has since expanded into Sacramento, Calif. (Johnson, 3/26)

CNBC: Eli Lilly Discloses Pricing Data For Its Popular Insulin Humalog
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly pulled the curtain back on the confidential pricing structure for one of its blockbuster drugs Monday, disclosing for the first time what it charges wholesalers versus what many patients typically pay. The company’s list prices for its popular insulin injection Humalog, versus what most patients are charged after insurance company rebates and other discounts, highlight the disparity in prices between uninsured and insured patients. The move is also a pre-emptive one as the Trump administration and Congress pressure drugmakers for more transparency and to lower drug costs. (Lovelace, 3/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Thermo Fisher To Buy Brammer Bio For $1.7 Billion
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. said it is buying Brammer Bio for $1.7 billion in a move that would expand the lab-equipment company’s presence in the rapidly growing field of gene therapy. Closely held Brammer Bio, owned by private-equity firm Ampersand Capital Partners, provides pharmaceutical companies developing gene therapies and gene-modified cell therapies with outsourced research and drugmaking services. (Hopkins and Lombardo, 3/24)

Stat: Thermo Fisher Gets Into Gene Therapy With Deal For Brammer Bio
Thermo Fisher Scientific is buying Brammer Bio of Cambridge, Mass., for about $1.7 billion as the giant Waltham, Mass.-based laboratory equipment supplier moves into the fast-growing area of gene therapy. Brammer Bio makes viral vectors that are used to deliver genetic material into defective cells in the hopes of treating or possibly even curing an inherited disorder. Brammer, a contract development and manufacturing organization hired by drug companies to assist them, has nearly 600 employees in Massachusetts and Florida. (Saltzman, 3/25)

Stat: With A NASH Treatment, NGM Aims To Be The Next Billion-Dollar Biotech
NGM Biopharmaceuticals wants to be the next billion-dollar biotech on Wall Street, and so it’s moving forward with an IPO that offers a springtime referendum on investor sentiment. Back in September, South San Francisco-based NGM filed paperwork to go public but fell silent as biotech indices tumbled in the fourth quarter. Now, apparently pleased with the state of the market, NGM has revived those plans and is pitching an offering that would value the company at about $1.1 billion. (Garde, 3/26)