Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rite Aid To Shut Another 63 Stores; CVS Announces Some Of Its Closures
CNN: Rite Aid Is Closing More Than 60 Stores
Rite Aid announced Tuesday it is closing another 63 stores to save about $25 million year. After years of overexpansion, Rite Aid and other giant American pharmacy chains have struggled. They've been closing hundreds of stores over the past few years, despite the pandemic that has drawn people into pharmacies. (Valinsky, 12/21)
San Francisco Chronicle: CVS Announces First Pharmacies To Close In San Francisco Next Month
CVS Pharmacy will close six of its 21 San Francisco stores in January, a company spokesperson told The Chronicle on Monday. They’re part of a wave of anticipated closures the company first announced mid-November, when it said it would shutter 900 stores nationwide in order to reduce its count by 10%. The closings are to occur at a rate of 300 per year for three years. (Whiting, 12/20)
In other pharmaceutical industry news —
Stat: AbbVie Asks The ITC To Investigate Alvotech's Plans For A Biosimilar Humira
In its latest bid to defend its franchise product, AbbVie (ABBV) has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in hopes of preventing a would-be rival from selling a lower-cost version of its Humira treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments. The drug maker argued that Alvotech, which is seeking a toehold in the U.S. for biosimilar medicines, misappropriated trade secrets and should not be allowed to market its version once it becomes available in the U.S. Alvotech, which is based in Iceland, is awaiting regulatory approval after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cited pandemic travel restrictions that delayed plant inspections. (Silverman, 12/20)
Axios: Purdue Pharma's Ripple Effect On Bankruptcies
A federal judge’s decision to reject Purdue Pharma’s multibillion-dollar opioid settlement shines a light on a controversial part of bankruptcies that quietly helps grease the wheels for complicated reorganizations. At issue are “non-debtor releases” provided to Purdue's owners, the Sackler family. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said the releases — agreements that shield the family from future litigation — can’t legally be granted by a bankruptcy court. (Marino, 12/20)
Stat: University Professor Charged With Insider Trading Over A Cancer Drug Trial
A University of Chicago associate professor who worked as a clinical trial investigator for Five Prime Therapeutics was charged with insider trading in connection with study results for a key cancer drug. In November 2020, Daniel Catenacci was a lead physician and investigator for a Phase 2 trial of a stomach cancer treatment when he learned of positive results from a Five Prime executive. The medicine, known as bemarituzumab, was widely tracked since stomach cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide and prompted Amgen (AMGN) to buy the company for $1.9 billion a few months later. (Silverman, 12/20)
Also —
CNN: Medical Marijuana And Autism: 'I'm Getting My Boy Back,' Mom Says
At first, Joann Fouquette's son, Ezra, was hitting all the milestones. It's what every new mom hopes for: a happy, healthy baby. But around 17 months, things started to change. He stopped speaking. He started covering his ears and hitting his head on the floor like something was bothering him. Fouquette remembers her mom telling her, "I think we need to get him tested. There's something definitely going on there. "Five months later, in 2012, Ezra was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. (Angley, 12/20)
Stat: The Cardiovascular Version Of Alzheimer's May Be A Jackpot For A Biotech
Surprise diagnoses have a way of making Ph.D. candidates out of everyday people. Walter Feigenson’s education began in 2007, at age 59, when he was wrongly diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Then came carpal tunnel syndrome, which doctors chalked up to his years in front of a keyboard. In 2010 it was a ruptured bicep tendon, and in 2015 a case of a spinal condition called lumbar stenosis. It wasn’t until 2018, when “dumb luck” landed Feigenson in front of a specialist at Oregon Health and Science University, that someone connected the dots between his disparate symptoms: He had a progressive disease that was destroying his heart. (Garde, 12/21)
The Washington Post: Self-Managed Abortion Could Be The Future — But Advocates Can’t Talk Much About It
Two hours before the U.S. Supreme Court convened for the case that could make abortion illegal across much of the country, four women gathered on the court’s steps to propose another path forward. With a mifepristone pill in one hand and a loudspeaker in the other, Amelia Bonow started to chant. “Abortion pills are in our hands and we won’t stop,” yelled the co-founder of the abortion rights organization Shout Your Abortion. Bonow and three others, none of whom were pregnant, then simultaneously swallowed mifepristone, a pill that can be used to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks gestation and is widely regarded as safe. (Kitchener, 12/20)
Stat: Despite Covid’s Impact, NCI Chief Sees Some Advances For Cancer Patients
Looking at cancer often means taking the long view. Research scientists, oncologists, and patients are all waiting to see what the coronavirus pandemic’s long-term effects might be on cancer detection and treatment, all while trying to navigate daily life made more precarious by the Omicron variant. (Cooney, 12/21)
North Carolina Health News: Increasing MAT Use In Carceral Facilities, Saving Lives
Major Elijah Bazemore started working at the Durham County Sheriff’s office on April 11, 1988. Since then, there’s been a “paradigm shift,” he said. “You want to help an individual be better when they get out of the facility than when they were when they were detained,” Bazemore said in an interview with NC Health News. He’s been helping people detained at the Durham County Detention Center do just that through the jail’s medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program, where he is the jail’s program administrator. (Thompson, 12/21)
