Hoping to get Germany to drop its opposition to a proposed World Trade Organization (WTO) waiver of intellectual property (IP) rights, several U.S. lawmakers have asked to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel when she’s in Washington for a July 15 summit with President Joe Biden.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) came out swinging against the biopharma industry’s innovation talking point July 8 when she released a House Oversight Committee staff report on U.S. drug prices and the games drug manufacturers play to delay competition.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported a series of moves recently that promise more scrutiny of companies in the life sciences industry, such as the more routine use of subpoenas and other compulsory processes during investigations. However, the FTC has also announced a broader revamp of the agency’s rulemaking authorities that some critics argue would allow the commission to promulgate rules that are in defiance of standing FTC practice.
The FDA’s recent release of documents related to its accelerated approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab) did little to reduce the controversy surrounding that decision and the U.S. pricing of Biogen Inc.’s Alzheimer’s drug.
Heralded as a potential turning point for U.S. innovation in the 21st century, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, S. 1260, is a big step closer to becoming law. The Senate voted 68-32 June 8 to pass the sweeping $250 billion bipartisan bill intended to give the U.S. an edge over China when it comes to innovation and investment in several critical industries, including artificial intelligence, biotechnology and quantum computing.
Originally intended as a way to help provide health care to uninsured and underinsured Americans, the 340B program has mutated into a revenue stream that’s benefiting large U.S. hospital systems, contract pharmacies and even pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) while contributing to higher drug prices for patients, according to stakeholders speaking at a May 26 Air 340B summit on the federal program.
The May 25 appearance of Francis Collins, director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, before a congressional committee revolved in large part around the Biden administration’s so-called ARPA-H proposal, but the administration’s proposal to waive intellectual property rights for vaccines was also on tap.
With the intense focus on developing COVID-19 diagnostics, sequencing tools, vaccines and treatments, the pandemic is having an outsized impact on the global development of drugs and devices to treat other diseases. Recent data show that more than 1,000 clinical trials worldwide remain disrupted by COVID-19, including 60% of the non-COVID-19 trials being conducted in the U.S., as funding and other resources continue to be directed toward ending the pandemic.
A grueling day of congressional questions and accusations isn’t the end of a U.S. House Oversight Committee investigation into Abbvie Inc.’s pricing of blockbuster drugs Humira and Imbruvica.
As part of its ongoing investigation into what it considers excessive price increases for some prescription drugs, the U.S. House Oversight Committee plans to put Abbvie Inc. CEO and Chairman Richard Gonzalez on the hot seat May 18 for a grilling on the company’s pricing of Humira and Imbruvica.