Wholesale Pharmaceutical Prices Fall, Adding To Hot Debate Over Drug Costs

Stat: Inflation Caused 'Unprecedented' Drops In Net Drug Prices, Analysis Finds
Amid ongoing turmoil over the cost of prescription medicines, a new analysis finds that brand-name drugmakers increased their wholesale prices by 4.4% in the last quarter of 2021, up slightly from 3.8% a year earlier. But when accounting for inflation, wholesale prices fell by 2.3%. At the same time, net prices that health plans paid for medicines — after subtracting rebates, discounts, and fees — dropped by 0.7%. But after considering inflation, net prices actually fell 5.4%. In both instances, these were the largest quarterly declines in real terms in 15 years, according to SSR Health, a research firm that tracks the pharmaceutical industry. (Silverman, 3/29)

In more news about drug pricing and drug marketing —

Stat: Key Senators Eye New, More Ambitious Legislation To Lower Insulin Prices
Key Senate lawmakers have begun writing a bipartisan bill that would cap the prices patients pay for insulin — and target the strategies drugmakers use to set prices for the medicine, too. The package, from Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), would go beyond the $35-a-month cap lawmakers have been talking about for months, Shaheen suggested in a brief interview with STAT on Tuesday. “We’re hopeful that we will have a bill that will address not just the cost cap… but the underlying cost,” she said. (Cohrs, 3/29)

Stat: HHS Seeks To Penalize Another Drugmaker Over Drug Discount Program
The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration is seeking to penalize Boehringer Ingelheim for curtailing discounts to a federal program that provides medicines at reduced prices to hospitals and clinics serving low-income populations, the latest in a string of such notices. The notice comes amid an ongoing clash over the 340B drug discount program, which requires drug companies to offer discounts that are typically estimated to be 25% to 50% — but could be higher — on all outpatient drugs to hospitals and clinics that primarily serve lower-income patients. There are approximately 12,400 entities participating in the program, a number that has grown substantially in recent years. (Silverman, 3/29)

FiercePharma: HHS Is Investigating How Consumers Are Marketed Accelerated Approval Drugs
Hot on the heels of backlash of the accelerated approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS') FDA is looking to rethink and redirect how these speedier approvals are marketed to consumers. Most patients probably assume the drug they’ve been prescribed has gone through a long and arduous process before getting that all-important FDA green light. Of course, that’s not the case with an accelerated approval. (Klahr Coey, 3/29)

In other pharmaceutical news —

CIDRAP: ECDC: Antibiotic Resistance To Common Foodborne Pathogens Still High
New data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) show that antibiotic resistance in Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria—two of the most common foodborne pathogens in humans—is still high, but resistance to critically important antibiotics remains low for Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Campylobacter in samples from both humans and food-producing animals. The findings are published in a new report of antimicrobial resistance in 2019–2020 in Salmonella, Campylobacter, and indicator E. coli isolates in poultry, pigs, and cows and subsequent human infections. (3/29)

Reuters: AstraZeneca's Imfinzi Fails Main Goal In Advanced Cervical Cancer Study 
AstraZeneca said on Thursday its drug Imfinzi, along with chemoradiotherapy, failed to achieve the main goal of improving survival in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer without the disease worsening. The late-stage study, dubbed "CALLA", tested progression-free survival of patients with the combination against chemoradiotherapy alone, the drugmaker said, and the results are seen as a setback for its efforts in a major area of focus. (3/24)

FiercePharma: ‘In The Long-Term Interests:’ FDA Oncology Chief Defends Rejection Of Lilly, Innovent Cancer Drug 
In a largely expected yet widely debated decision, the FDA declined to approve Eli Lilly and Innovent Biologics’ China-developed immunotherapy sintilimab for certain lung cancer patients. Critics blame the FDA and its oncology chief Richard Pazdur, M.D., for closing the door to meaningful price reductions in the widely used PD-1 drug class, and some suspect that the agency is playing to the growing geopolitical tension between the U.S. and China.In an interview with Fierce Pharma, Pazdur, director of the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), defended the rejection. (Liu, 3/28)

Also —

FiercePharma: Bayer CEO Baumann Faces Revolt From Investor Temasek Holdings: Report
A major investment by Temasek Holdings of Singapore helped Bayer pull off a risky $63 billion purchase of Monsanto in 2018. But four years later, Temasek is blaming CEO Werner Baumann for a deal gone bad. With a shareholder meeting set for April 29, Temasek has informed Bayer chairman Norbert Winkeljohann that it wants a change in leadership, according to a report from Bloomberg News. The investor is requesting a no-confidence vote in Baumann or a vote against ratifying the performance of management. Another investor, Alatus Capital also has joined the call. "The actions of Mr. Baumann have led to significant shareholder value destruction at Bayer," wrote (PDF) Alatus in a release. "Bayer’s share price has declined by 48%, significantly underperforming market indexes and peers." (Dunleavy, 3/28)

Stat: Pharma Partnerships With Digital Therapeutics Players To Watch 
With high-minded ambitions to revolutionize health care with the help of software, digital therapeutics companies are finding themselves in cahoots with some of the industry’s largest and most-traditional players: pharmaceutical giants. Digital therapeutics developers and pharma companies would seem to be natural partners. Many digital therapeutics companies are hoping to find their way to the patient populations that pharma companies have been targeting for years. Many digital therapeutics, meanwhile, are designed to work in tandem with medication, and in some cases aim to boost adherence among patients. (Aguilar, 3/30)