The AMS Blog

Specialty drugs for treatments such as arthritis accounted for less than 1% of prescriptions for a major employer purchasing group but made up 40% of the group’s total drug spending last year, according to a new analysis. The analysis from Willis Towers Watson’s Rx Collaborative, a large employer pharmacy benefit group purchasing organization, underscores a major problem the rest of the healthcare industry is facing in trying to find ways to pay for a select few pricey medications. The top three…

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Drug companies are still raising prices for brand-name prescription medicines, just not as often or by as much as they used to, according to an Associated Press analysis. After years of frequent list price hikes, many drugmakers are showing some restraint, according to the analysis of drug prices provided by health information firm Elsevier. In the first seven months of 2019, drugmakers raised list prices for brand-name prescription medicines by a median of 5%. That’s down from about 9% or…

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A quick look at biopharma’s top-selling drugs(including forecasted sales through 2024) reveals a trio of biologic cancer treatments that have been marketed since 1997 and will likely bring in a cumulative total of more than $300 billion. But biosimilar competition for Roche’s Herceptin (trastuzumab), Avastin (bevacizumab) and Rituxan (rituximab) is now ready to launch in the US, and Bernstein biopharma analyst Ronny Gal said in a report issued Friday that prices overall “are likely to decline by 70% in five years.”…

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Mallinckrodt is getting burned on all sides as federal prosecutors scope out the drugmaker’s controversial H.P. Acthar Gel marketing and price hikes. Now, one of the largest U.S. insurers is looking to pile on. Humana overpaid for Acthar by $700 million because of Mallinckrodt’s widespread campaign to stifle competition and pay doctors and patients to choose the pricey med, the insurer said in a new federal lawsuit in California. Humana accused Mallinckrodt of a “complex, multipart scheme involving monopoly, bribery, racketeering,…

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Novartis’ spinal muscular atrophy gene therapy Zolgensma made all kinds of headlines leading up to and following its approval. Now, it’s making just the kind of headlines no drug company wants to be caught up in. On Tuesday, the FDA said Novartis submitted a drug application with manipulated data and didn’t inform regulators of the issue until one month after approval. The company was aware of the issues two months before the FDA greenlighted the drug, the agency says. If the regulator had been…

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When PDL BioPharma’s $40 million blood-pressure medicine faced the threat of a generic rival this year, the company pulled out a little-known strategy that critics say helps keep drugs expensive and competition weak. It launched its own generic version of Tekturna, a pill taken daily by thousands. PDL’s “authorized” copycat hit the market in March, stealing momentum from the new rival and protecting sales even though Tekturna’s patent ran out last year. PDL’s version sold for $187 a month versus $166…

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For Pfizer’s blockbuster immunology drug Xeljanz, an FDA safety communication has now turned into a boxed warning. And forget the drug’s approval as a first-line ulcerative colitis treatment, at least for now. In a new addition to Xeljanz’s label on Friday, the FDA is warning of an increased risk of blood clots—and potentially, death—with the JAK inhibitor’s 10-mg twice daily dose. And meanwhile, the drug’s green light in ulcerative colitis has been pushed down the treatment line: It’s approved only for those who do not…

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Allergan’s textured breast implants will be recalled due to their link to a rare cancer, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. Following a request from the FDA, the company will proceed with a worldwide recall of its Biocell textured breast implant products, the agency said. The recall stems from concerns about a tumor known as breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). “The recall of these textured implants is a big deal in protecting women from the potential…

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LYNNFIELD, MA – July 22, 2019 Advanced Medical Strategies (AMS), the leader in strategic intelligence software for clarity into complex claims, is pleased to announce the launch of Predict Profiler. This reporting and analysis software module identifies high dollar diseases and high-risk individuals at-a-glance in a user-friendly web-based system. Predict Profiler differs from population health reporting; it organizes, analyzes, predicts and benchmarks claimants from both diagnosis and drug perspectives. With Predict Profiler, stakeholders in the self-funded space can see for the first time not just who is at risk, but pinpoints what exactly is driving the risks and costs in their groups of business. It delivers vital risk feedback and trigger reports which allow…

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The week after President Donald Trump signed a landmark executive order meant to overhaul the current kidney care system, CVS Health has launched a clinical trial for HemoCare, an at-home hemodialysis device. President Trump’s executive order shifts incentives and payments for dialysis away from in-clinic treatments and towards at-home dialysis. According to data from CMS, around 88 percent of end stage renal disease patients in 2016 started treatment with in-center dialysis. The administration’s actions aim to switch that proportion to at-home dialysis…

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