✦ A pharmacy trade group made a formal request to the Dept. of Justice, asking that the government block UnitedHealth Group’s proposed acquisition of Change Healthcare Inc. “This deal would give UHG a trove of intelligence on its smaller competitors, including thousands of independent pharmacies and their patients.
Pharma Industry Braces as Dems Hash Out Drug Price Package
Although House Democratic leaders recently suffered a setback when a trio of moderates in a key committee voted against a sweeping set of drug pricing reforms, health care policy experts tell AIS Health that the pha...
Study Flags Potential Benefit of Targeted Medication Reviews
The Part D Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Model launched in 2017 with the intention of incentivizing prescription drug plans (PDPs) to investigate new strategies to optimize medication therapy management (MT...
New Schizophrenia Drug Will Likely Have Familiar Coverage
Earlier this month, the FDA approved a drug that the manufacturer touts as “the first-and-only twice-yearly injectable for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults.” Drug benefits experts say it could be a good ...
News Briefs
✦ Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. will spend $970 million to acquire a 71% stake in Shields Health Solutions, a specialty pharmacy company. Shields contracts with health systems and hospitals to build and operate on...
Will Rx Startup Targeting Cash-Paying Patients Succeed?
A new startup, DiRx, has entered the prescription-drug-delivery fray, and will target un- and underinsured consumers with low-cost, generic maintenance medications. Experts say that the market is worth pursuing, but...
PhRMA Takes Aim at Medicare Price Negotiation as HHS Digs In
Policies aimed at slowing price growth in the most expensive drug categories could result in slightly fewer drugs coming to market, according to an analysis of the issue prepared by the Congressional Budget Office (...
More Anal Cancer Drugs Are Coming Despite Incyte Stumble
This summer, Incyte Corp. hit a roadblock in the company’s quest to have its drug retifanlimab become the first FDA-approved treatment of its kind for patients with the most common type of anal cancer.
Retifanl...
Experts Mull How Life Sciences Firms Can Prep for ‘New Normal’
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered health care delivery patterns. Hospitals have had to exhaust their resources caring for COVID patients, while other important health care services, like cancer screenin...
News Briefs
✦ Consulting and actuarial firm Milliman, Inc. said on Sept. 7 that it has acquired SkySail Rx, a pharmacy benefit technology firm. SkySail specializes in leveraging data to support pharmacy benefit pricing and co...