Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Walgreens Accused Of Overcharging For Drugs
Modern Healthcare: Blues Plans Accuse Walgreens Of Drug Fraud
Blues plans across the country on Tuesday accused Walgreen Co. of fraudulently inflating prescription drug prices by submitting false statements and omitting facts about its payment ceilings. For more than a decade, Blues plans in Maryland, South Carolina and Louisiana claim Walgreens overcharged them by hundreds of millions, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. A spokesperson for Walgreens declined to comment on the litigation. (Abrams, 3/16)
And more on drug pricing —
Stat: A Battle Is Brewing Between A Senator And A Nonprofit Over Pharma Patenting Practices
As the pharmaceutical industry faces pointed criticism over its patent practices, an effort appears to be under way to push back and challenge one of its leading critics in hopes of changing the narrative about patents and their role in prescription drug pricing. The focus is on a nonprofit called the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, or I-MAK, which has published several papers over the last few years criticizing drug makers for pursuing patents that may profitably extend the marketability of their medicines, but without necessarily adding any new, substantive value. (Silverman, 3/16)
Stat: Lawmakers, PhRMA Swap Accusations Of 'Misleading' Drug Pricing Intel
A group of congressional lawmakers is accusing the pharmaceutical industry’s leading trade group of providing “misleading information” or simply failing to answer questions they posed this month about prescription drug pricing, the latest flare-up over the divisive pocketbook issue. The lawmakers — including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and others — had asked PhRMA to explain why prices rose an average of 5% in January for many top-selling medicines. They cited analyses conducted by academics at the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins University, and also sought information about various costs incurred by drug companies that boosted their prices. (Silverman, 3/16)
In other pharmaceutical and biotech industry news —
Stat: Biogen Publishes Data On Its Alzheimer’s Drug In A Little-Known Journal
When it comes to Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, even publishing the data is steeped in drama. The key data that led to Aduhelm’s approval by the Food and Drug Administration were finally published Wednesday, more than two years after they were first described in a press release. But in a highly irregular step for an important clinical trial, the data were published not in a major journal but in the little-known Journal of the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease. That has critics worried that Biogen has found a low-stakes forum for a study that deserves scrutiny and debate. (Herper, 3/16)
AP: Elizabeth Holmes' Ex-Lover, Business Partner Faces Own Trial
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the jilted lover and business partner of former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes, finally has his chance to defend himself against charges that he was Holmes’ accomplice in a Silicon Valley scam involving a ballyhooed blood-testing technology that flopped. Opening statements in Balwani’s trial are scheduled Wednesday in the same San Jose, California, courtroom where a jury found Holmes guilty of investor fraud and conspiracy in January. She was acquitted on other counts accusing her of duping patients who relied on Theranos’ flawed blood tests. (Liedtke, 3/16)
In obituaries —
The Washington Post: Donald Pinkel, Medical Researcher Who Found A Treatment For Childhood Leukemia, Dies At 95
Donald Pinkel, who began his career as a pediatrician and a cancer researcher in Boston and his native Buffalo, packed up his Volkswagen in 1961 and drove to Memphis to start a new job. He was the first employee, and the founding director, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. During his 12 years at St. Jude, Dr. Pinkel helped shape the now renowned hospital’s medical and research programs and, during the 1960s, made a major breakthrough by developing the first effective treatment for childhood leukemia. (Schudel, 3/16)
