Radar on Specialty Pharmacy

MA Stakeholders Urge CMS to Adjust End-Stage Renal Disease Payment Rates in 2021

Responding to the two-part Advance Notice proposing rate and risk adjustment changes for Medicare Advantage plans in 2021, insurers and other stakeholders expressed concern that payment rates for serving members wit...
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MDs Protest New BCBST Policy Intended to Save Clients Money

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc. (BCBST) has found itself in the news recently but probably not for reasons the health plan might like: The insurer has received tremendous pushback from physicians on its deci...
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CVS Health Offers Genomic Testing for More Precise Care

Targeted therapies have made tremendous progress in oncology, with some products essentially rendering some cancers chronic conditions. According to the National Cancer Institute, the FDA has approved hundreds of ta...
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Experts Vary on Challenges, Benefits of White Bagging

As health plans seek to have more control over their spending on provider-administered specialty drugs, many physicians are pushing back, as seen most recently with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s (BCBST) new ...
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White Bagging Can Pose Array of Logistical, Contractual and Communication Issues

As the practice of white bagging grows, Elan Rubinstein, Pharm.D., principal at EB Rubinstein Associates, tells AIS Health that the approach has many potential issues that should be addressed in payer contracts with...
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New FDA Specialty Approvals

✦ Feb. 10: The FDA granted final approval to Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s Pemfexy (pemetrexed) for the treatment of people with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer in combinati...
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News Briefs

✦Walgreen Co. and Kroger Co. can continue to pursue a lawsuit (No. 19-1730) over Remicade (infliximab) against Janssen Biotech Inc. and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson, according to a decision by the U.S...
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Drug Prices, Biosimilars, Gene Therapies Will Be 2020 Trends

As far as overall industry themes expected in 2020, drug pricing will remain a hot topic. Following a year in which FDA approvals of biosimilars hit double digits for the first time with 10, it’s not much of a sur...
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Pipeline Boasts First-in-Class Entries, Drugs in Crowded Areas

More and more of the pharma pipeline consists of specialty drugs. Going forward in 2020, areas that may see a lot of activity include biosimilars, orphan drugs and gene therapies, as well as potentially the first FD...
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Multiple Myeloma, Multiple Sclerosis, Breast Cancer Drugs Are Among Those Going Off Patent in 2020

AIS Health asked various industry experts about what specialty drugs are expected to see patent expiration — and potentially generic or biosimilar competition — in 2020. Here’s what Martin Burruano, R.Ph., vic...
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