[1]coffee thx to chichacha on flickr creative commons
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. Once again, a weekend respite has come and gone. We hope it was invigorating and relaxing, because the usual routine of meetings, deadlines and what-not has returned. As always, we are attacking our own to-do list with help from a cup of stimulation. Please join us, or grab a bottle of water, if you prefer. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits. Have a great day and do keep in touch…
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has agreed to cover Amgen’s pricey new cholesterol drug in exchange for a discount and potential rebates if the treatment fails to meet performance targets, The Boston Globe [2] reports. The companies say the deal is the first pay-for-performance contract for the cholesterol drug, called Repatha, though Amgen is negotiating similar pacts with other insurers.
Pfizer told investors it had a 25.5% global tax rate in 2014, but could have cut its rate to 7.5% by reporting foreign earnings the way most U.S. companies do, The Wall Street Journal [3] tells us. Pfizer, which is exploring a merger with Allergan that could put its legal address outside the US, complains the US tax system hobbles its ability to compete globally. But its accounting methods raise its reported tax rate, without increasing actual taxes the company pays.
A Delaware federal judge granted a request from AstraZeneca for a temporary restraining order [4] that bars Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories from selling a generic version of the Nexium heartburn drug, because the copy allegedly infringes on the ‘Purple Pill’ trademark. This is the second time AstraZeneca has succeeded in obtaining such an order to block a generic rival over this issue, according to our earlier story [5].
Merck and Eli Lilly are being investigated by the Justice Department for pricing practices, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly is being asked about “distribution service agreements with wholesalers,” and how that affects prices charged to Medicaid (see page 48 [6]). Merck was asked for documents related to its “contracting and pricing of Dulera Inhalation Aerosol with…Medicare Part D plans” (see page 22 [7]).
Endo Pharmaceuticals chief executive Rajiv De Silva is trying to distance himself and his company from his former employer, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which has been at the center of a controversy over pricing and ties to a mail-order pharmacy, The Philadelphia Inquirer [8] writes. He told financial analysts last week that only about 3 percent of Endo’s sales go through specialty pharmacies and does hold any interest in such operations.
After journal retractions, lawsuits and headlines, former Duke University researcher Anil Potti, who resigned from the school in 2010, was found to have engaged in research misconduct, according to this Federal Register notice [9].
Goldman Sachs forced Michael Pearson, the Valeant Pharmaceuticals chief executive, to sell nearly 1.3 million of his shares in the drug maker to cover a loan that the bank had extended to him, The New York Times [10] says.
A Food and Drug Administration panel voted unanimously in favor of approving sugammadex, a Merck drug for reversing the effects of muscle relaxants during surgery, Reuters [11] writes.
A UK bill that would have allowed repurposing off-patent medicines that show promise in unlicensed indications failed to make it past its second reading in parliament, Pharma Times [12] reports.
Incyte shares fell the most in more than three years after reporting its combination drug for some forms of cancer helped patients less often in an early trial than related data had indicated, Bloomberg News [13] says.
The Novo Nordisk diabetes drug Victoza failed to improve clinical stability or delay death in patients suffering from advanced heart failure, researchers reported at a medical meeting on Sunday, Reuters [14] says.