Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? The middle of the week has finally arrived, and you should congratulate yourselves for making it this far and deciding to soldier on. After all, consider the alternatives. None too pleasant, yes? This calls for a delicious cup or three of stimulation. As always, we invite you to join us. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits. Hope you have a smashing day and please do keep in touch. We treasure your messages …
Just before Pfizer was going to set a price for its Ibrance breast cancer drug, a rival raised the monthly cost of its own treatment by nearly a thousand dollars, causing a reassessment, The Wall Street Journal writes. The new price reflected how an analysis of benefits and risks of the drugs, potential competition, reactions from cancer doctors, and a “shrewd assessment” of how insurers were likely to view the product.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging is holding the first in what is promised to be a series of hearings into recent instances of “abrupt and dramatic price increases” in prescription drugs. The hearing is expected to focus on price hikes taken by Valent Pharmaceuticals and Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals, among others. Proceedings begin at 2:30 p.m., Washington, D.C., time.
The Food and Drug Administration approved an Alexion Pharmaceutical treatment for a rare and potentially fatal genetic disorder known as lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, Reuters tells us. The drug, Kanuma, is a biologic that is manufactured by chickens that express the biological product in its egg whites. Alexion was also granted a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher, the fifth such voucher to be awarded by the agency.
Eli Lilly is in the process of splitting manufacturing of its animal health drugs from facilities used to make other medicines, which could eventually make it easier to spin off the division, Bloomberg News reports.
The FDA issued an import alert — or ban — for all human and animal medicines made by India’s Pan Drugs for violating of manufacturing standards, The Economic Times says.
Even though one-third of all US adults should be taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, almost half of these people do not take the meds, Reuters writes, citing a recent study.
Daiichi Sankyo plans to close its U3 Pharma subsidiary in Germany and transfer the operation to a research unit in Japan, according to PMLive.
China’s FDA rejected applications for 13 new drugs due to false or incomplete trial data as part of a government crackdown on poor-quality medicines, Reuters reports.
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