Peter Wehrwein

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is pricing Rezdiffra (resmetirom) at wholesale acquisition price of $47,400 per year.

At the moment, Simlandi (adalimumab-ryvk) has the high-concentration, citrate-free, interchangeable Humira (adalimumab) market to itself.

The increase is close to inflation and wage growth but much steeper than the atypically small increase in 2022.

Whether Opill (norgestrel) truly broadens access to daily contraception will depend on Medicaid coverage, requirements under the ACA and pharmacist prescribing.

Experts expect more lawsuits challenging CMS’s authority to negotiate drug prices for Medicare Part D.

The drugs must have full “traditional” FDA approval and patients need to be enrolled in a registry that collects post-approval data efficacy and safety when the drugs are used in clinical practice.

At a placeholder price of $19,000, resmetirom would produce cost savings, says the drug evaluation group. Obeticholic acid’s price would need to be slashed to meet a commonly used cost-effectiveness threshold.

Cuban, of "Shark Tank' fame and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, called drugs prices ‘insane’ and used some profanity when talking pharmacy benefit managers at the annual meeting of the Association for Accessible Medicines yesterday. Cuban has co-founded an online pharmacy that he says will make drug prices lower and transparent.

Sixteen states have banned a pharmacy benefit management practice that involves not counting the value of drug copay assistance from manufacturers toward patient deductibles.

Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have indicated that they are going to price their shots at between $110 and $130. The shots should still be free to individuals because of rules barring out-of-pocket costs for such vaccinations.

Spending on specialty drugs fueled a 11% increase in Medicaid drug spending from 2020 to 2021, says Magellan's seventh annual Medicaid Pharmacy Trend Report.

1 out 3 Medicaid patients who might have benefited from targeted therapy —mainly Tagrisso and Alecensa — for metastatic lung cancer did not receive it, according to estimates by a trio Harvard-affiliated researchers.

Biosimilars will have limited effect on the oncology drug expenditures, according to IQVIA. Spending on obesity drugs may increase tenfold, depending on guidelines and payer coverage.

Participation in the main Medicare Shared Savings Program is decreasing but 132 accountable care organizations with 2.1 million assigned beneficiaries are participating in the ACO REACH model this year.

Spending using net prices (prices after discounts and rebates are factored in) will grow between -1% and 2% between 2023 through 2027, say IQVIA analysts in the company's Global Use of Medicines report. Patent expiration and competition from generics and biosimilars and the healthcare-related provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act will push down spending, predict IQ.

CMS announced today that 456 accountable care organizations (ACOs) will participate in Medicare Shared Savings Plan program in 2023, a decrease from the 483 ACOs that participated last year. But 132 ACOs have signed up to participate in the ACO REACH, an increase from 99 last year.

Results reported today on the JAMA website show no benefit from repurposing the SSRI as a COVID-19 treatment drug. Earlier results suggesting that fluvoxamine might be an effective treatment were from trials conducted earlier in the pandemic when vaccines weren’t available and other variants were circulating.

In this debut podcast series of What's on Your Mind podcast, Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., CEO of The Pharmacy Group, recently shared his thoughts on the current state of healthcare and especially the management of pharmacy costs. This new monthly series brings listeners into the minds of Managed Healthcare Executive's® Editorial Advisory Board members. Cohen has decades of experience in managed care and has been on the editorial advisory board since 1994.

Leqembi's starting price is almost half of what Aduhelm's was and the FDA-approved label narrows use to people with early disease. But Medicare coverage restrictions may still apply and there is concern about a side effect called ARIA (amyloid related imaging abnormalities).

Manufacturers and payers will now be allowed to exchange information before a drug is approved by FDA.

But disparities among White, Black and Hispanic patients were largest among those with private insurance, according to findings reported in JAMA. The researchers speculate that differences in dealing with prior authorization may have widened disparities in the prescribing integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs).

Smaller and midsize pharmacy benefit managers are taking on Optum Rx, CVS Caremark and Express Scripts. They say they have better technology and are more transparent about their pricing.

Smaller and midsize pharmacy benefit managers are taking on Optum Rx, CVS Caremark and Express Scripts. They say they have better technology and are more transparent about their pricing.

A recently published review paper looked at microRNAs, which play a key role in gene expression. Much more research is needed, the researchers concluded, to fill in the gaps of how microRNAs might be used to monitor how people with multiple sclerosis (MS) response to the growing number of MS treatments.

Evidence that people with multiple sclerosis (MS) benefit from exercise is accumulating researchers should be careful about using standard definitions of exercise and start collecting and reporting data on adverse event, says the National MS physical wellness research working group.

Magellan Rx's businesses includes a 1.7-million member PBM. The deal is struck amid a long-time trend toward consolidation in the pharmacy benefit management industry.

Magellan Rx's businesses includes a 1.7-million member PBM. The deal is struck amid a long-time trend toward consolidation in the pharmacy benefit management industry.

Evidence that COVID-19 might affect male fertility is accumulating, although it is an incomplete picture and there is no final word on the subject. This study found a possible effect on concentration but not on sperm motility or morphology.

Results reported by CDC researchers show a sharp drop-off in HIV prevention and care services, such as preexposure prophylaxis prescriptions, in the second quarter of 2020 but then a rebound in third quarter.

Short-term manufacturing problems are happening as the demand for Adderall and other stimulant medications for ADHD have increased. Data from Arrive Health show a marked increase in ADHD medication prescriptions for people in their 30s.