Christine Blank

A new membership program, SmartRx, offers consumers savings on prescriptions, as well as office visits, eye care, vaccines and pet meds.

With this partnership, employers and their members using RxPreferred for their pharmacy benefit will have access to all medications available through Cost Plus Drugs.

Clarivate analysts have identified the treatments they forecast could deliver annual sales of more than $1 billion within five years. These include therapies for rare diseases, as well as HIV, Parkinson’s disease, Crohn’s disease, alopecia, and cancer.

Lecanemab, now with the brand name Leqembi, will launch with a wholesale acquisition cost of $26,500 a year.

List prices of 450 medications have increased 5% overall at the beginning of 2023. More price hikes are expected.

Wegovy is a once-weekly prescription medication for obesity that has faced supply issues. Its manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, is increasing production capacity in 2023.

Lenacapavir, now with the brand name Sunlenca, is a twice a year therapy for adult patients with multi-drug resistant HIV. It has a list price of $42,250 for the first year.

The combination includes an antibody-drug conjugate with an immunotherapy to treat patients with advanced bladder cancer. The PDUFA action date is April 21, 2023.

Researchers modeling the cost-effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) therapy and antibody conjugate found that they fell short.

Results for Amgen’s Blincyto (blinatumomab) suggest it has efficacy as a treatment for Philadelphia chromosome-negative B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Researcher modeling the cost effectiveness of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) therapy and antibody conjugate found that they fell short.

The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the advantages of treatment that involved fewer in-person office visits, according to research presented at American Society of Hematology meeting earlier this month. Researchers also saw a notable increase in the use of Darzalex (daratumumab).

Lilly’s first-in-class medicine that activates both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, Mounjaro, is the latest to be included on the FDA’s drug shortages list because of high demand.

This is the fourth indication for Vraylar, a dopamine and serotonin partial agonist that can now be used as an adjunctive therapy in patients with major depressive disorder.

Building on the success of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines, Pfizer and BioNTech have begun a phase 1 trial of a combined flu-COVID-19 vaccine.

The FDA issued an accelerated approval for Mirati’s Krazati for patients with KRAS-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. The agency also approved a companion diagnostic to identify eligible patients.

The bivalent vaccines add the omicron variant BA.4 and BA.5 to the original SARS-CoV-2 and a component of omicron lineage BA.1.

Independent pharmacies are no longer part of Tricare’s pharmacy network for uniformed service members and their families. The pharmacy groups say this will impact 400,000 beneficiaries.

If approved, clotrimazole would be the first topical drug indicated to treat otomycosis, an ear infection caused by a fungus.

Lecanemab is an investigational anti-amyloid beta antibody to treat mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease. It is currently under review by the FDA and a decision is expected by Jan. 6.

Adderall pills containing methamphetamine and oxycodone pills containing fentanyl have been among the fake pills the DEA and investigators have confiscated.

The FDA has issued a final guidance for beta-lactam oral antibiotic suspension products, including amoxicillin.

The agency is encouraging sponsors to submit applications for low-dose, nonprescription naloxone products.

After review of phase 3 data, GSK will limit the use of Zejula in the second line to those with inherited BRCA mutations.

Johnson & Johnson’s Tecvayli (teclistamab-cqyv) has been approved by the FDA, and Pfizer’s elranatamab received breakthrough status that should speed its approval. Bispecific antibodies may be a bridge to CAR-T treatments or an alternative to them.

Positive results for Adcetris (brentuximab vedotin) were reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. Further research will include a look at the cost effectiveness of Adcetris.

Vizient saw a 43% surge in demand for all amoxicillin products in the acute care setting from September to October, but fill rates have dropped 25%.

Bebtelovimab is used to treat COVID-19, but omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 may be resistant, the FDA said.

Cotellic, an oral inhibitor of MEK1 and MEK2, was approved to treat patients with histiocytic neoplasms based on a phase 2 trial conducted solely at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Several suppliers of the widely-used antibiotic have limited or no availability of some formulations.