Pharmalot.. Pharmalittle.. Good Morning.. We’re catching up on Valeant, Glaxo and…
October 26, 2015 8:25 AM
coffee thx to chichacha on flickr creative commons

coffee thx to chichacha on flickr creative commons

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating, because that all-too-familiar routine of meetings, deadlines and what-not has returned. To cope, as you may guess, we are brewing several cups of needed stimulation and invite you to join us. And why not? A prescription is not required, after all. Meanwhile, here are some items of interest. Have a smashing day and do stay in touch…

Valeant Pharmaceuticals maintains its accounting practices for the Philidor Rx Services pharmacy are appropriate, but created a board committee to review the relationship. The move comes after the feds issued subpoenas into its patient assistance programs and a subsequent report by a prominent short seller focused on how Philidor books revenue for the drug maker. Valeant is holding an 8 a.m. conference call to discuss all this. You can listen here.

Meanwhile,  ProPublica wrote how Philidor, in which Valeant has a 10 percent stake that was only recent disclosed, attempted to circumvent California law and distribute drugs in the state without a license. And The Wall Street Journal spoke with three former Philidor employees who explained how the companies are more closely intertwined than previously thought.

Woodford Investment is pushing for GlaxoSmithKline to break apart and separate its HIV business ViiV, its consumer healthcare division and Stiefel, its dermatology division, from its core medicines and vaccines arm, Sky News reports. And Neil Woodford has held private talks about the issue with Sir Philip Hampton, the drug makers’s new chairman.

The top executives of the largest Indian generic drug makers, including Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Sun Pharma and Lupin Pharmaceuticals, met informally in Mumbai to discuss ways of coping with FDA warnings and bans, The Economic Times tells us. The move comes in response to a series of enforcement actions in recent years by the agency, which is trying to bolster quality control oversight.

A survey of corporate HR managers found that just 2% would switch pharmacy benefits managers if they could obtain a discount of 5 percent on prescription drugs. However, 51 percent would switch to a different pharmacy benefits manager for a discount of 9 percent more on medicines, according to Citigroup analysts, who queried 51 HR managers from small, medium and large employers.
Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals received notice that the FDA will fast track an experimental epilepsy drug that is headed to Phase I trial, MedCity News writes.
Merck is dropping the price of its Remicade arthritis medicine by 25 percent in the U.K. through discounts and rebates to retain market share after cheaper copies became available in February, Bloomberg News reports.
An FDA advisory committee voted 10-to-4 in favor of recommending an AstraZeneca gout drug, but also urged stronger guidelines, more conservative labeling and continued post-market studies, MedPage Today says.
The FDA declined to approve a Spectrum Pharmaceuticals injection to treat patients with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that arises from plasma cells found in bone marrow, Reuters tells us.
An Alexion Pharmaceuticals treatment for a rare children’s bone disease was cleared by U.S. regulators, giving the company its first new-drug approval in the country in eight years, Bloomberg News says.
Print This Post Print This Post

Share

FDA  / Mergers and Acquisitions  / Pharmacy Benefit Managers  / Pricing & Patient Access  / Quality Control  / Rare Diseases  / Uncategorized

Ed Silverman

You might also like

Drug makers beat diabetes lawsuits with an unusual ruling
November 13, 2015
Pharmalot.. Pharmalittle.. As the weekend nears.. Catching up on Merck, Roche and..
November 13, 2015
Drug makers kept many clinical trial results a secret: study
November 12, 2015