Top of the morning to you. Another deliciously shiny day is unfolding over the Pharmalot campus, where the skies are blue and a cool breeze is circulating. Although there is much work to be done, please join us as we pause ever so briefly to relish the moment with a tasty cup of stimulation; peppermint mocha is the choice today. After all, life is short, so why not stop to appreciate, yes? Once you’ve finished, you can dig in to the menu of interesting items below. And of course, have a wonderful day. …
The end of a national right to abortion could trigger a surge of interest in abortion pills by mail, a method of pregnancy termination that has become popular in states that already restrict the procedure, The Washington Post says. Many Republican legislatures have tried banning the pills from being shipped or prescribed. But some women have been able to circumvent the restrictions by getting their pills online from overseas pharmacies that cannot be reached by U.S. laws. The tablets usually come in an unassuming envelope, making it hard to police. With the Supreme Court possibly poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, people seeking abortions in the U.S. will probably flock to these sources.
U.S. House lawmakers are moving a little closer toward cracking down on drugmakers that game the accelerated approval pathway, which is used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to endorse medicines without clear evidence they help patients live longer. But the latest legislation is friendlier to industry than previous drafts, STAT explains. The legislation will include a revised policy to make it easier for the agency to rescind its approval when drugmakers do not complete required follow-up studies. But the original text would have automatically revoked certain approvals once the associated clinical studies were one year overdue. That provision was stripped out.
In the latest dust-up over prescription drug pricing, Johnson & Johnson filed a lawsuit accusing a behind-the-scenes company of exploiting a financial assistance program that is designed to help patients afford out-of-pocket costs for some of its most expensive medications, STAT notes. The health care giant alleged the company, called SaveOnSP, devised a scheme that caused it to pay at least $100 million more in copayment assistance than it would have otherwise. The J&J program, which is called Janssen CarePath, attempts to help patients pay for 44 medicines, many of which are prescribed for treating cancer or autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
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