Drug Pricing
Optum Rx, one of the largest PBMs in the US, declared itself as the “first comprehensive, transparent pharmacy services company” after announcing several consumer-friendly changes.
Walmart has launched an attack on a host of industry-leading generics firms over historical price-fixing allegations, with the US retail giant seeking treble damages from a Pennsylvania district court.
In the wake of Formycon’s recent announcement that US marketing partner Sandoz would be pausing commercialization of the Cimerli rival to Lucentis that it recently took over from Coherus, Sandoz management has offered a few more details on its plans for the ranibizumab biosimilar.
Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor has spoken of his frustration at a lawsuit from J&J seeking to prevent the launch of a private-label ustekinumab biosimilar in the US, which he described as “the desperate actions of an originator trying to protect its market.”
Discussing a new report highlighting the lack of US biosimilar competition on the cards for the majority of biologics losing exclusivity in the next ten years, the AAM’s Access! 2025 conference heard that the “sobering” findings should act as a “wake-up call for stakeholders.”
Responding to the announcement by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services of the 15 additional drugs that will soon be subject to price negotiation – including Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy – the Association for Accessible Medicines has called out the “short-sighted government price setting scheme” for undermining generic and biosimilar competition.
Chairman-designee Andrew Ferguson likely will continue the commission’s investigation of PBMs during the next administration.
Two more generics manufacturers have reached agreements with 50 US attorneys general settling claims that they artificially inflated and manipulated the prices of generic drugs for nearly a decade.
Along with other approaches, early market entry of generics and biosimilars would barely make a dent in reducing the net prices of retail prescription drugs in the US – but even then, small reductions would add up to billions, reveals the latest CBO calculation.
The proposed CMS innovation center's $2 drug list model will not address the barriers to newer generics getting on Part D formularies and plans may have little incentive to participate in the demo, an industry group said.
The US FTC and FDA both received letters from the Senate but with different messaging. One commends for achieved findings and requests a new investigation and another scalds for not doing the assigned job.
Japan has started to charge patients a portion of the difference between the reimbursement price of the generic and non-generic product if they insist on the latter without a supporting recommendation from the prescribing physician, in a policy designed to further drive generic use.
In a closely anticipated US Senate Committee hearing, Novo’s CEO was grilled by US senator Bernie Sanders and others on the high price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the country.
Pharmacy benefit manager sues Federal Trade Commission, claiming chair Khan has orchestrated a campaign against PBMs that is not based in fact.
After years of heavy price and cost pressures that have taken a toll on firms operating in the US generics market, more recent quarters appear to have reflected a calmer and more predictable landscape. Generics Bulletin looks at the latest trends.
After UK apixaban prices started to creep up in July, the latest WaveData figures show several different presentations of the generic increasing their average price by multiples in August.
In a frank acknowledgement of Sandoz’s position in the US small-molecule generics market, the company’s North America president Keren Haruvi has indicated that the firm is “not looking to be a leader in the generics space” and is still suffering from a lack of investment made in its pipeline during the period several years ago when it was looking to sell the oral solids business.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has agreed a $25m payout in the US to resolve its alleged liability under the False Claims Act linked to historical price-fixing allegations.
The latest figures on uptake for rivals to Humira in the US show adalimumab biosimilars beginning to capture significant market share from the originator, AbbVie’s Humira, after an initially slow start in 2023.
July’s UK generic pricing figures from WaveData show captopril tablets rocketing up in price, while aripiprazole prices continue to plummet.