In a bid to bring more drug manufacturing back to the U.S. and to ensure an adequate supply of essential medicines, even in public health emergencies, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is forming a public-private consortium on advanced manufacturing and the onshoring of domestic production.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is turning the biopharma industry’s claim about rebates on its ear, saying some rebates paid to pharmacy benefit managers and third-party payers are an anticompetitive tool drug companies use to maintain their U.S. market power.
Two weeks ago, it was a grilling by the House Oversight Committee over the pricing of blockbuster drugs Humira and Imbruvica and a request for the FTC to launch an investigation into Abbvie Inc.’s patent settlements that delayed Humira biosimilar competition in the U.S. until 2023. This week, Abbvie became the face of a new investigation by the Senate Finance Committee over how multinational companies are shifting profits overseas as a way to avoid U.S. taxes.
Borrowing a chapter from venture capitalists, the U.S.’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is partnering with the nonprofit Global Health Investment Corp. (GHIC) to accelerate the development and commercialization of medical technologies and products needed to respond to or prevent future pandemics and other public health emergencies.
A lawsuit filed last year challenging a federal rule and certification allowing certain drugs to be imported from Canada should be dismissed because no drug companies have been harmed yet, nor are they likely to be any time soon, the Biden administration said in a motion seeking dismissal of the suit.
The Biden administration released its full budget proposal for fiscal year 2022, increasing the FDA’s budget authority to nearly $3.6 billion, up 10% over 2021. The Alliance for a Stronger FDA said that though analysis is needed to parse out the details, the proposal will be supported.
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.
With a number of Medicare coverage policies in flux, the U.S. Senate has confirmed Chiquita Brooks-LaSure as the next CMS administrator, closing out one more critical remaining position for the Biden administration at the Department of Health and Human Services. Still unannounced is the administration’s nominee to lead the FDA, an omission that becomes more conspicuous with each passing day.
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.
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