Insulin

The Arkansas attorney general on May 11 accused drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers of colluding to drive up the price of insulin drugs, the latest in a series of lawsuits to take aim at skyrocketing costs for the life-sustaining medicine.

European Union flag

The European Commission wants to make health data easier to access by 2025 for patients, medics, regulators and researchers in a bid to improve diagnoses, cut unnecessary costs from duplication of medical tests and boost medicine research.

During his first State of the Union Address, President Biden noted that the pandemic has been a disruptive force on multiple levels, not only for the United States but the entire globe. Among his pledges is a plan to distribute Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid free of charge to people who test positive.  

Jon Bigelow, Thayer Pond Solutions

According to Jon Bigelow, Executive Director of the Coalition for Healthcare Communication, the beginning of the Biden administration has had a largely positive impact on the biopharma industry, notably marked by an effort to “stick to the science”; a fairly efficient roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines that allows reopening of schools and many aspects of normal daily life; and expansion of Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage. But behind the scenes, pressure continues to build surrounding high prescription drug costs and changes in tax policy.

President Donald Trump signed a new executive order aimed at lowering drug prices in the United States by linking them to those of other nations and expanding the scope of a July 2020 action.

Roche

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Roche’s Enspryng for the central nervous system disorder neuromyelitis optica, putting the Swiss drugmaker head-to-head with Alexion’s Soliris in a costly treatment area.

In an aim to create a strong domestic supply chain, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that calls for federal agencies to purchase “essential drugs” and medical supplies that are produced in the United States, rather than from abroad as is the current practice.

A meeting with top pharmaceutical executives that President Donald Trump promised wasn called off, a White House official said.

President Donald Trump will sign three executive orders on lowering prescription drug prices, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said.

Zolgensma

Zolgensma’s successful market uptake by payers may hold lessons for other manufacturers of costly gene therapies.