Drug Pricing
Mounjaro and Zepbound led Lilly’s 45% sales increase, but non-incretin products such as Verzenio and Taltz helped produce 20% growth outside of the incretin portfolio.
Sun Pharma sees opportunities for Antibe’s otenaproxesul in the US and emerging markets and aims to get the clinical hold on the novel NSAID lifted. The firm is also focusing on its specialty business in Japan, amid pricing challenges for long-listed products.
Expectations for Skyrizi, Rinvoq skyrocket, and while AbbVie expects to return to compound annual growth in the high single digits this year, the Medicare drug benefit redesign will cut revenue by about 4%.
Health and Human Services Department Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely said prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death and made other comments on corporate capture, mifepristone, anti-depressants, and ADHD treatments, suggesting someone who often sows doubt and misleads on the risk-benefit balance of pharmaceuticals.
The Swiss firm enjoyed an exceptional 12% sales growth last year, and believes it can compensate for the imminent loss of blockbuster Entresto with new products. CEO Vas Narasimhan also laid out his three-point wish list for the new US administration.
HHS Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. discussed the Trump Administration's support for Medicare price negotiation during his confirmation hearing.
Speculation that the Trump Administration may "pause" the second negotiation cycle to make changes to the program adds uncertainty to an already challenging scenario.
Novo took the biggest stock price hit of all the drug makers with products subject to Medicare price negotiations in 2027 under the IRA, but at least 11 of its peers on the list will be subject to generic competition between 2025 and 2027.
The company updated investors on its 2025 financial guidance and a recent meeting with incoming US president Trump and HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Neurocrine will launch Crenessity for adults and children with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia in less than a week, with pricing available then, adding its second commercial product.
In identifying 10 drugs whose price increases added the most to US health care spending in 2023, ICER found Keytruda’s was backed by six studies. Gilead’s Biktarvy led the list of drugs whose increases lacked support.
The US election result brought stock market volatility especially to pharma and biotech companies but the poster children for approved GLP-1 agonists and vaccines were initially the hardest hit.
Eli Lilly’s India chief, at a recent summit, talked about India moving up the “priority list” when it came to boardroom discussions, while the founding CEO, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, outlined the implications for pharma as the massive publicly funded health assurance scheme widens coverage in the country.
The proposal states that Part D plans could define "obesity" for coverage determination, but CMS said overly restrictive criteria would be inconsistent with formulary review requirements and step-therapy would not be allowed.
But the expected nominee brings little experience running a large government organization or with the policy and budget challenges confronting Medicare and Medicaid.
While election results are not complete, prospects improve under new regime for 340B program reforms, PBM legislation, and Inflation Reduction Act drug pricing revisions. But immediate priorities for Congress and the new president will be elsewhere.
Some of the industry’s biggest challenges – and potential solutions to those problems – were hot topics at the BioFuture conference in New York.
A court order encompassing funding, drug pricing, clinical trials and overall policy implementation aspects is expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the treatment of rare diseases in India. Sarepta, Roche and Sanofi are among the key players that have been part of pricing discussions.
With more advanced therapies gaining approval, companies at ARM’s Cell and Gene Meeting on the Mesa considered hurdles to making their products more broadly available and developing them for larger indications.
Arexvy has become the first RSV vaccine to show it can provide protection over three years – but that might mean lower market uptake than originally expected.