November 20, 2013— The U.S. Senate has passed legislation clarifying Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight of compounding pharmacies, clearing it for President Obama's signature. The House passed the bill in July. [ms-protect-content id="2799"] Compounded medicines are those made by hand by pharmacists. Many providers turned to large-scale compounding pharmacies … [Read more...]
340B Recertification Postponed for STD and TB Clinics and Ryan White Grantees
Annual affirmation of eligibility now scheduled for first quarter 2014November 19, 2013—The Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) has delayed the start of 340B recertification for sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics, tuberculosis (TB) clinics, and Ryan White HIV/AIDS program grantees until the first quarter of 2014. Recertification was scheduled to begin for them yesterday. [ms-protect-content id="2799"] OPA announced the postponement on its … [Read more...]
Big Pharma Profiteering on Orphan Drugs (Part 3)
The Seattle Times has published the next installment of its investigation of drug industry profiteering from orphan drugs. It's entitled How a Drug for a Few Patients Was Turned Into $81 Million in Sales. The story describes how Cell Therapeutics Inc. systematically spread the word among physicians (sometimes with the assistance of patient advocacy groups) about potential … [Read more...]
Drug Companies Disbanding Together Rx Access Discount Program
Cardholders "may be better served" by insurance exchanges, Medicaid, and other PAPs, they sayNovember 18, 2013—Eight leading drug manufacturers are pulling the plug on a discount card program used by more than 2 million people who are ineligible for Medicare and have no prescription drug coverage.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] The Together Rx Access Card program will cease accepting applications after Dec. 31 and the cards will become void on Feb. 28, 2014, … [Read more...]
Groups Say Trade Pact Threatens 340B
Letter to Obama warns of limits on prescription drug cost-control mechanismsNovember 15, 2013—Drug-pricing provisions reportedly being advanced by U.S. negotiators for a proposed multilateral trade treaty could subject 340B drug discounts "to challenge by manufacturers," a coalition of health, consumer, labor, and retiree groups says in a recent letter to President Obama.[ms-protect-content id="2799"] In their Nov. 8 letter, the 15 organizations … [Read more...]
Big Pharma Profiteering on Orphan Drugs (Cont’d.)
Earlier this week, we reported that The Seattle Times is investigating drug industry profiteering from orphan drugs. Now, the business news website Quartz has run its own the story on the topic. "There's good reason for big pharma's attraction to rare disease treatments," writer John McDuling says in Forget Viagra: Why Rare Diseases are Big Pharma’s Latest Obsession. "Revenue … [Read more...]
340B Hospitals Face Double Whammy in Many States
Recently, we described how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is squeezing public and private nonprofit hospitals’ finances—making hospitals’ continued access to 340B drug discounts more important than ever. This past Saturday, the front-page lead story in The New York Times took an in-depth look at how two SNHPA member hospitals in Georgia are struggling to cope with ACA's cuts in … [Read more...]