COVID

As 2021 began, the pharmaceutical topic arguably drawing the most attention was COVID-19 and the rollout of vaccines against it. Moving into 2022, the COVID pandemic unfortunately continues to dominate headlines, as the U.S. marked 1 million new cases of COVID on Jan. 3, a single-day record for any country. However, it’s not all bad news, as the pandemic is continuing its impact across various services. For example, drugmakers are applying knowledge gained in their innovative efforts to develop vaccines and treatments to other areas of drug development, and a shift to virtual operations and health care is expected to continue.

AIS Health spoke with a variety of industry experts about their 2022 projections for pharma.

On the heels of announcing that private health insurers will soon have to reimburse Americans for at-home COVID-19 tests, President Joe Biden said on Dec. 21 that the federal government will also distribute a half-billion free at-home tests. During the president’s remarks, which come as case counts are rising due to the omicron variant, he acknowledged that “we need to do better with at-home testing,” adding that the administration will set up “websites where you can get them delivered to your home.” Biden also said the federal government will set up emergency testing sites in areas that need additional testing capacity, starting with sites in New York City.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19 has “diminished potency” when used against the omicron variant, while AstraZeneca plc’s antibody product “retained neutralizing activity” against the new variant. The antibody treatments remain the standard of care for unvaccinated COVID-19 patients with severe disease. Regeneron emphasized that its treatment is effective against the delta variant. However, omicron has become the dominant variant in recent days: the Associated Press reported 73% of new infections last week were omicron.

While the COVID-19 pandemic still drove a lot of the conversation around the pharmaceutical industry over the past year, much of it was focused on the development of vaccines and their rollout starting in late 2020, as well as treatments for the virus. But other innovative agents also came to market in 2021, continuing the industry’s trend of producing pioneering products. AIS Health, a division of MMIT, spoke to industry experts about the impact of COVID-19 on the industry and other 2021 pharma trends.

New statistics showing a rise in telehealth usage among Medicare beneficiaries during the pandemic make a strong case for permanently expanding telehealth coverage for Medicare patients. A new report from the HHS Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) found that the number of FFS beneficiary telehealth visits rose from approximately 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020, with the largest increase seen in behavioral health specialist visits. Black and rural beneficiaries demonstrated lower use of telehealth compared with white and urban beneficiaries, respectively. The report did not include results for Medicare Advantage members, since plans had discretion to offer telehealth prior to the pandemic, noted ASPE. Meanwhile, a new Medicare Telemedicine Data Snapshot from CMS showed that the number of Medicare beneficiaries (including MA enrollees) using telemedicine services between March 1, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021, increased over 30 times the number of users from the prior year (March 2019 to February 2020). Dual eligibles had higher use of telehealth than those with just Medicare. “These latest numbers prove that when given the resources and opportunity to use telemedicine, many of these patients will opt to use the technology,” wrote Connected Nation, which seeks to fill broadband and digital technology gaps through partnerships across all sectors. “We would argue that among the critical needs is to expand not only access to broadband but also working to ensure it is affordable and that others understand both how to access the technology and how it can benefit them.”

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance increased 4% to $7,739 for single coverage and $22,221 for family coverage, respectively, this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation 2021 Employer Health Benefits Survey. In recent years, high-deductible plans with a savings option have been gaining popularity. About 22% of firms offered an HDHP/SO and 28% of covered workers were enrolled in such a plan in 2021, representing slight declines compared with previous years. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of telemedicine, as 95% of firms with 50 or more workers offered telemedicine coverage in their largest health plan, up from 85% last year. In addition, about 65% of firms with 50 or more workers made changes to enhance their telemedicine benefits after the beginning of the pandemic.

Medication abortion — which involves using two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol — accounts for 54% of all pregnancy terminations before nine weeks of gestation in the U.S., according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation analysis. The FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research exercised “enforcement discretion” of the Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy requirement that asks prescribers to dispense mifepristone to patients in-person during the pandemic. This allows providers in 32 states and the District of Columbia that do not have laws that ban medication abortion to dispense mifepristone via telehealth. Currently, 18 states and D.C. allow both advance practice clinicians and medical doctors to dispense abortion pills.