Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Will Release Plan To Allow States To Import Drugs; Pharma And Canada Both Remain Unhappy About Proposal
Reuters: Trump Says He Will Allow States To Import Prescription Drugs To Lower Costs
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he will soon release a plan to let Florida and other states import prescription medicines to combat high drug prices, and he blasted the Democrat-led House for not going far enough in a drug-pricing bill. "We will soon be putting more options on the table," Trump wrote in a series of tweets, adding that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "and her Do Nothing Democrats drug pricing bill doesn’t do the trick." (11/22)
CNBC: Trump Will Release Plan Allowing States To Import Drugs From Canada Soon
It’s unclear exactly how the plan has changed since the Department of Health and Human Services released an outline in July. According to the outline, states, wholesalers and pharmacists — acting as intermediaries for consumers — would draft a proposal for safe importation of drugs already available in the U.S. The groups would then submit the proposal to the Food and Drug Administration for approval. In most circumstances, it is illegal to import medications from other countries for personal use, according to the FDA. Canadian health officials and the pharmaceutical industry are against the proposal. (Lovelace, 11/22)
The Hill: Trump Draws Ire After Retreat On Drug Prices Pledge
President Trump is backing off his 2016 campaign pledge to negotiate drug prices for Medicare with pharmaceutical companies, drawing fire from Democrats after months of talks on the issue with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). During his campaign, Trump famously broke with Republican orthodoxy with his support for having the government negotiate lower drug prices. (Sullivan, 11/24)
Stat: With $9.7 Billion Acquisition, Novartis Bets That Heart Drugs Are Coming Back
Novartis’ $9.7 billion acquisition of The Medicines Company (MDCO), which the companies announced Sunday after days of rumors, is a story of second acts. It represents a new chance for a type of cholesterol-lowering drug that was once predicted to generate many billions of dollars in annual sales, but has so far disappointed drug makers and investors, to dominate the landscape for heart medicines. (Herper, 11/24)
The Wall Street Journal: Novartis To Buy Cholesterol-Drugmaker Medicines Co.
The cholesterol drug under development by Medicines, based in Parsippany, N.J., is aimed at patients who aren’t well-treated by older statin pills. Medicines won’t come cheaply. Its shares have risen as the company has reported positive data from testing of the drug, with the stock nearly quadrupling this year. Its shares closed at $68.55 Friday, meaning the deal values Medicines at 24% above a price that was already elevated by expectations of a deal. (Cimilluca, Lombardo and Rockoff, 11/24)
Stat: New Data On Takeda’s Dengue Vaccine Look Promising, But With Troubling Exception
New data about the effectiveness of Takeda (TAK) Pharmaceutical’s experimental dengue vaccine will likely raise more concerns among the many people hoping the vaccine will be an effective and safe tool with which to combat the massive global burden of dengue fever. The company — which earlier this month published findings from a Phase 3 trial outlining responses to the vaccine after 12 months — presented 18-month data at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in National Harbor, Md. (Branswell, 11/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Takeda’s Dengue Vaccine Shows Promise
Effective measures to stop the spread of dengue are among the most urgent needs in global public health. Approximately 3.9 billion people in tropical regions of the world are at risk of infection with the virus, which is carried by an aggressive mosquito that teems in populated areas. An estimated 390 million people a year are infected with dengue. The World Health Organization listed dengue among 10 global health threats of concern in 2019. But only one licensed vaccine—Dengvaxia from Sanofi SA, is available so far, and it has had safety problems. Takeda’s ongoing clinical trial of its TAK-003 vaccine, involving approximately 20,000 children between the ages of 4 and 16 years in eight countries, is being closely watched. (McKay, 11/23)
NPR: For Your Heart, Eat Fish Or Take Pills? A Dose Of This Drug Equals 8 Salmon Servings
It's long been known that eating fish, especially cold-water fish such as salmon that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, is good for heart health. But, for the millions of Americans who are at high risk of heart disease, eating enough fish to make a difference isn't likely to be realistic for most. There's growing evidence that taking a very high-dose of purified fish oil, delivered in a prescription pill, can help prevent heart attacks and strokes among people who have elevated risks. (Aubrey, 11/25)
Houston Chronicle: Harris County Sues Insulin Manufacturers, Alleging Price-Gouging Scheme
Harris County filed suit against three insulin manufacturers this week, accusing the firms of colluding to set artificially high prices for the medicine and other diabetic treatments. The suit estimates the alleged 15-year scheme costs the county millions of dollars annually through higher health care costs for employees, their dependents and inmates in the Harris County Jail. “We are bringing this lawsuit to hold these billion-dollar companies responsible for conspiring to drive up the prices of their life-saving insulin for our residents, while securing record profits for themselves,” County Attorney Vince Ryan said Thursday. (Despart, 11/22)
Stat: Facing Bottlenecks In Bio-Manufacturing, Boston Leaders Will Build Their Own
A group of leading Boston-area universities, hospitals, and corporations will create a new center for bio-manufacturing and innovation in or near the city, Harvard University announced on Monday, hoping to have the facility up and running by 2022 in an effort to protect the area’s leadership in life sciences. That leadership is threatened by severe bottlenecks in bio-manufacturing, said Harvard officials, who spent two years canvassing experts on what Massachusetts needs to do to keep promoting biotech in both academia and industry. (Begley, 11/25)
