UnitedHealth Teases New Value-Based Drug Pricing Model Coming In 2025

Reuters: UnitedHealth's Unit To Launch New Drug Pricing Model Next Year
UnitedHealth said on Monday its unit OptumRx would offer a new pricing model, starting next year, to help manage insurers' costs for drugs. The new model, Optum Rx Clear Trend Guarantee, will provide value-based pricing of drugs per member combining the cost of these medicines from various sources such as retail pharmacy, home delivery, specialty drug and rebates. (5/20)

More on the cost of drugs —

Bloomberg: Hims & Hers Debuts $199 Weight-Loss Shots, Undercutting Wegovy, Ozempic
In just a few years, Hims & Hers Health Inc. reached almost $1 billion in sales by making it easy to buy cheap, generic versions of popular drugs such as Viagra. Now it’s using that playbook to jump into the hottest part of health-care: weight-loss shots. And in typical fashion, a big part of the company’s pitch is the discount. Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk A/S, costs roughly $1,350 for a month of injections without insurance, and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound is similarly priced. Hims said it’s offering a treatment with the same active ingredient as Wegovy for $199 a month. That undercuts big pharma by as much as 85%. (Muller and Nix, 5/20)

KFF Health News: High Price Of Popular Diabetes Drugs Deprives Low-Income People Of Effective Treatment
For the past year and a half, Tandra Cooper Harris and her husband, Marcus, who both have diabetes, have struggled to fill their prescriptions for the medications they need to control their blood sugar. Without Ozempic or a similar drug, Cooper Harris suffers blackouts, becomes too tired to watch her grandchildren, and struggles to earn extra money braiding hair. Marcus Harris, who works as a Waffle House cook, needs Trulicity to keep his legs and feet from swelling and bruising. (Rayasam, 5/21)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Two Biosimilars For Blockbuster Eye Drug Eylea 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved two close copies of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' Eylea, its first-ever clearance to biosimilar versions of the blockbuster eye treatment. The agency approved Biocon Biologics' Yesafili as well as Samsung Bioepis and Biogen's (BIIB.O), opens new tab Opuviz, while also allowing interchangeability, or the drug's substitution with biosimilars without the need for a doctor's advice. (5/20)

In legal news —

Reuters: GSK Whistleblower Claims Drugmaker Cheated US Government Over Zantac Cancer Risk
GSK has been sued by an independent Connecticut laboratory that accused the drugmaker of defrauding the U.S. government and taxpayers by concealing cancer risks in Zantac, once a blockbuster heartburn drug. In a whistleblower complaint filed on Monday, Valisure said GSK violated the federal False Claims Act by hiding the risks for nearly four decades while Medicare, Medicaid and other health programs covered billions of dollars of prescriptions. (Stempel, 5/20)

Reuters: FDA Sued By Scientist Urging Sexual Side Effects Warning For Widely Used Depression Drugs
A Howard University scientist on Monday sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for failing to act on his six-year-old petition seeking a warning label for two classes of common antidepressant drugs about the potential for persistent sexual side effects. In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, Antonei Csoka said the FDA has "unreasonably delayed issuing a decision in light of the nature and extent of the public health interests addressed in the petition." (Pierson, 5/20)

The Baltimore Sun: Second Henrietta Lacks Family Lawsuit Can Proceed Against Pharmaceutical Company, Judge Rules
The family of Henrietta Lacks can proceed with a lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company that uses the Baltimore County woman’s “immortal” cell line to develop medical treatments, a federal judge ruled Monday. (O'Neill, 5/20)

In tech and pharma advancements —

The Wall Street Journal: Exclusive: Elon Musk's Neuralink Gets FDA Green Light For Second Patient, As First Describes His Emotional Journey
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a green light to Elon Musk’s Neuralink to implant its brain chip in a second person, signing off on the company’s proposed fixes for a problem that occurred in the first test participant. The fixes include embedding some of the device’s ultrathin wires deeper into the brain, according to a person familiar with the company and a document viewed by The Wall Street Journal. (Winkler, 5/20)

Bloomberg: GSK Experimental Drug Reduces Severe Asthma Attacks In Trial
An experimental drug from GSK Plc reduced asthma attacks in late-stage trials, paving the way for a treatment that the British drugmaker thinks could exceed £3 billion ($3.8 billion) in sales. The drug, depemokimab, showed clinically meaningful reductions in severe asthma exacerbations over 52 weeks in patients with eosinophilic asthma, according to a statement Tuesday. That form of asthma is caused by high levels of white blood cells called eosinophils in the lungs’ airways. (Furlong, 5/21)