Cancer-Related Services Drop, Could Have Long-Lasting Impact
Years of advances in driving down cancer occurrences and deaths could be completely reversed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A recently published study shows screenings, diagnoses and treatment for various cancers dropped...
Survey: Oncologists Expect To Prescribe Onureg in AML
With the FDA’s approval last month of Onureg (azacitidine), people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) now have an oral version of a longtime injectable treatment within that class. Zitter Insights found that more t...
HOSP Forms to Advocate for Integrated Specialty Pharmacies
As the specialty pharmacy industry continues to grow, more entities within the health care system are boosting their capabilities in this area, and various health systems are implementing some form of a specialty ph...
Prime Launches Medical Benefit Management Tool MedSelect
While a variety of strategies are available to manage specialty drugs in the pharmacy benefit, that’s not traditionally been the case with drugs that fall under the medical benefit. Prime Therapeutics LLC is addin...
New FDA Specialty Approvals
✦ Oct. 7: The FDA expanded the label of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s Palynziq (pegvaliase-pqpz) to increase the maximum allowable dose to 60 mg for the treatment of adults with phenylketonuria. The agency init...
News Briefs
✦ CMS is delaying the start of the Radiation Oncology Model from Jan. 1, 2021, to July 1, 2021. The move comes after CMS announced the launch date on Sept. 18, and multiple entities, including the American Society...
Administration Ramps Up Drug Pricing Focus on Medicare B, D
The administration continued its push to reduce drug spending with a Sept. 13 executive order focused on Medicare Part B and Part D. While previous efforts had focused on Part B, including an International Pricing I...
Law Will Allow Calif. to Produce, Distribute Biosimilars, Generics
As the focus on drug prices continues (see story above), California recently took a step that it hopes will “increase patient access to affordable drugs,” according to a bill recently signed by the governor. But...
AllianceRx Walgreens Prime Launches Digital Clinical Tools
As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, it’s more important than ever for people to have the ability to perform needed actions from home. To help with this, AllianceRx Walgreens Prime has released some digital clinical...
FDA Approval of Sogroya May Change Prescribing in GH Class
When the FDA approved Novo Nordisk, Inc.’s Sogroya (somapacitan-beco) for the replacement of growth hormone in adults with growth hormone deficiency on Aug. 28, it became the only long-acting agent on the market (...
