[1]pic thx to marc nozell on flickr creative commons
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the middle of the week. Congratulations on making it this far. If you were like us and stayed up to watch the Democratic presidential debate, you may want an extra cup of stimulation this morning. As noted below, there were no fireworks, at least when it came to the pharmaceutical industry. But as always, there is much else to track. So please feel free to dig into the tidbits we have assembled. Hope your day goes well and keep in touch…
During the Democratic presidential debate last night, the candidates were asked “Which enemy are you most proud of?” And guess what? The pharmaceutical industry rated mention from both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. That’s not surprising, given public furor over prescription drug prices. Sanders, in fact, has been probing the issue for the past year. But there was scant mention of the industry otherwise. You can read the transcript here [2].
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network plans to provide patients with guidance about the cost of drugs used in their treatment, Bloomberg News [3] informs us. The information will supplement summaries the group has provided for 20 years on the effectiveness, side effects and evidence backing the therapies. But the new guidance will be an additional set of information doctors can share with their patients while discussing treatment options.
Johnson & Johnson believes that tests showing the ability of Jardiance, an Eli Lilly diabetes drug, to save lives is a benefit that will likely be seen in the entire class of SGLT-2 drugs, including J&J’s own Invokana, Reuters [4] reports. Lilly last month reported that a three-year study showed Jardiance slashed deaths by 32 percent in patients with type 2 diabetes at risk of heart attack and stroke – a finding that could make it a mainstay diabetes treatment.
A former Merck financial analyst was sentenced to more than three years in prison for engaging in an insider trading scheme by tipping a friend at Bank of New York Mellon about merger negotiations with ldenix Pharmaceuticals and Ardea Biosciences, Reuters [5] says. Zachary Zwerko was also ordered to pay more than $694,000. In total, the scheme generated illegal profits of at least $737,000, and Zwerko was paid $57,000 as part of his expected cut.
Tricare, the Department of Defense health care system, is requiring all of its members to use mail order pharmacies to order branded versions of chronically needed drugs through Express Scripts. And the move is a sign that private insurers will accelerate requirements for their own plans, heralding the demise of countless brick-and-mortar pharmacies across the US, according to Forbes [6].
Germany’s Merck KGaA is scrapping its divisional brands Merck Serono and Merck Millipore and will do business simply as Merck outside North America, where EMD Serono will continue to be used, Pharma Times [7] tells us.
Shares in Zafgen, which is developing a drug to fight obesity have plunged by about 50 percent since Monday morning after two meetings with investors were reportedly cancelled, The Boston Business Journal [8] says.
India’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to see sales and profit growth accelerate in the second half of the year, thanks to a pickup in the pace of U.S. approvals for new drugs, Reuters reports
The use of second-generation antipsychotics during the first trimester of pregnancy does not significantly raise the chance of fetal malformations, MedPage Today [9] writes, citing a new study from the American Journal of Psychiatry [10].