The U.S. FTC is taking a bow after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. asked the FDA to remove more than 200 patent listings from the agency’s Orange Book.
Pfizer Inc. emerged over the weekend as the winner of the bidding war for Metsera Inc., with the two reaching an amended agreement after market close Nov. 7 that values the obesity drugmaker at about $10 billion. The next day, the other contender, Novo Nordisk A/S, confirmed it does not intend to increase its most recent offer.
The threat of tariffs on imports of branded drugs is about to be realized after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% import duty will apply beginning Oct. 1. However, the flurry of recent announcements by pharma companies of investments in U.S. manufacturing plants may have paid off, with the president saying in his announcement on Truth Social that the 100% rate will be enforced “unless a company is building their manufacturing plant in America.”
The threat of tariffs on imports of branded drugs is about to be realized after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 100% import duty will apply beginning Oct. 1. However, the flurry of recent announcements by pharma companies of investments in U.S. manufacturing plants may have paid off, with the president saying in his announcement on Truth Social that the 100% rate will be enforced “unless a company is building their manufacturing plant in America.”
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has posted notice to health care companies that their use of noncompete agreements for physicians and nurses may violate the law. The advisory may allow physicians and nurses engaged in clinical trials to move to other employers, thus complicating the conduct of those trials.
The debate around the U.S. 340B prescription drug discount program is once again heating up in court and in Congress. A day after the American Hospital Association called on the FTC and Department of Justice to investigate alleged antitrust issues with the rebate models a few drug companies have proposed, some members of Congress raised concerns Sept. 9 about how providers are abusing the program. Meanwhile, a U.S. appellate court heard arguments that same day on whether states can speak in the silence of the federal law that created the program more than 30 years ago.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened a docket for comment on noncompete employment contracts, a move which suggests that the agency may revert to evaluating these practices on a case-by-case basis rather than by issuing sweeping rules.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported Aug. 6 that it will try to block Edwards Lifesciences Corp.’s proposed acquisition of Jenavalve because Edwards’ acquisition of both Jenavalve Technology Inc. and JC Medical would eliminate competition in the TAVR space for aortic regurgitation.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a $14.6 million grant it received for an upgrade of its IT infrastructure. The same grant mechanism is leveraged by the Department of Justice, which is a clear sign that U.S. enforcement will be more vigorously enabled by sophisticated analytics going forward.
Once again, U.S. legislative reforms to rein in pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) business practices missed a ride to finally becoming law. This time, they were kicked out of the Trump administration’s budget reconciliation bill that was signed into law July 4. House Resolution 1, as first passed in the lower chamber, included a few PBM reforms, but they were deleted from the Senate version that ultimately became law because the parliamentarian ruled they didn’t meet the restrictions placed on reconciliation measures.