President Donald Trump’s proposed budget would slash Medicaid funding and cut support for major biomedical research programs at the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. The budget blueprint drew condemnation from healthcare advocates and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle. Senate majority whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) reportedly said earlier […]
Policy
Trump considers drug-pricing reform with input from industry groups, advocates
President Donald Trump’s administration took aim at drug-pricing reform this month by holding listening sessions with industry groups and advocates. His administration is pursuing actions it can take with and without Congress to combat the industry’s high drug prices, according to a report from The Hill. The pharmaceutical industry, traditionally a powerful lobbying force on Capitol […]
Amid drug-pricing criticism, industry trade group ousts members
The pharmaceutical industry’s trade group ousted 22 companies earlier this week after it revised membership rules. The move comes as lawmakers in Washington have pressed the pharma industry about U.S. drug prices. The updated membership rules for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) group mandates that members spend at least $200 million each year […]
Sanofi ties drug price increases to healthcare inflation
Insulin makers have faced questioning this year for their drug pricing practices – a class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts in January alleges that Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) and Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) conspired to raise their list prices to get access to pharmacy benefit managers’ preferred lists, instead of competing with each other […]
Report: Pharma relies on price hikes for growth
Despite growing pressure from lawmakers over the pharmaceutical industry’s pricey products, new research shows that pharma relied largely on price hikes for growth in 2016. A 120-page report from Credit Suisse demonstrated that net price growth made up 100% of net income growth for a variety of companies within the industry, including Biogen (NSDQ:BIIB), Eli Lilly […]
Trump to meet with biotech execs, researchers to discuss federal funding
In the wake of President Donald Trump’s $6 billion proposed cut to the National Institutes of Health, biotech executives and researchers are slated to meet with the new administration next month. A memo about the meeting reportedly describes the get-together as a chance for the “private sector and thought leaders to describe their institution and […]
UPDATED: Mallinckrodt, Marathon leave industry trade group over drug pricing controversy
Updated to include a statement from Mallinckrodt regarding its membership with PhRMA. Marathon Pharmaceuticals reportedly withdrew from the drug industry’s lobbying group yesterday following controversy over its pricey drug, Emflaza. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) began reconsidering its membership criteria as reports revealed a number of drugmakers hiking the prices of their products. […]
Medicaid expansion tied to increase in prescriptions for diabetes drugs, birth control
The number of prescriptions filled by adults using Medicaid rose 19% in states that expanded Medicaid compared to states that did not under the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The largest increases were for drugs that help patients deal with chronic conditions, including […]
Trump FDA pick to recuse himself from agency decisions involving 20 companies
Donald Trump’s nominee to head the FDA, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, reportedly told ethics officials at the Office of Government Ethics he plans to recuse himself for 1 year from agency decisions on more than 20 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY). Gottlieb has received millions of dollars for his roles as advisor, paid speaker […]
Little or no audit preparation common device QMS problem
By Stewart Eisenhart, Emergo Group In the second in a series of blog posts examining common problems medical device firms deal with related to quality management system audits, Emergo discusses how lack of proper internal audit preparation leads to last-minute scrambles and business headaches. Get the full story here at the Emergo Group’s blog. The […]
