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☆ CVS, UnitedHealth say FTC should take Lina Khan and two commissioners off drug middlemen case
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-09 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group are demanding Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan and two other commissioners recuse themselves from a lawsuit accusing the companies and other drug middlemen of boosting their profits while inflating insulin costs for Americans. In separate motions filed Tuesday night with the FTC, CVS and UnitedHealth argued that all three commissioners have an extensive track record of making public statements that indicate "serious bias" against the companies' so-called pharmacy benefit managers. CVS said those statements demonstrate that the commissioners have "prejudged this matter," so their participation in the case "violates due process." The FTC filed the suit last month against the three largest PBMs, CVS Health's Caremark, UnitedHealth Group 's Optum Rx and Cigna 's Express Scripts. The FTC has been investigating PBMs and their role in insulin prices since 2022.

Persons: Lina Khan, UnitedHealth, Khan, Alvaro Bedoya, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, PBMs Organizations: Financial Services, General Government, Federal Trade Commission, CVS Health, UnitedHealth, Federal Trade, CVS, Amazon, FTC, Zinc Health Services, GPO, Emisar Pharma, OptumRx Locations: Rayburn, U.S, Caremark

☆ Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic may lower the risk of opioid overdoses, study says
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. Novo Nordisk 's blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, demonstrating its potential as an alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, according to a new study released Wednesday. The active ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, was associated with a "significantly lower" opioid overdose risk than other diabetes medications in people diagnosed with both Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder, said the paper published in JAMA Network Open. Around 3,000 people were prescribed semaglutide injections, while the remaining patients received treatments that ranged from insulins to older GLP-1s for diabetes. That reflects a 58% lower risk of opioid overdose in patients who took semaglutide, Xu said.

Persons: Dr, Rong Xu, Eli Lilly, Lilly's, Xu Organizations: Novo Nordisk, JAMA, Case Western Reserve University, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Drug, U.S, National Institutes of Health, Novo Nordisk's Victoza Locations: London, Britain, Novo

☆ ‘Greed, greed, greed’: Sanders demands Ozempic maker lower prices
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-24 | by ( Meg Tirrell | Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“We are very committed to making sure that Americans have access at an affordable price point for our medicines,” Jorgensen replied. Similarly, Wegovy’s list price is $1,349 in the US, but it costs $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom, he said. Tuesday’s hearing boiled down to a familiar argument over who is responsible for the US’s higher prices: drug companies that set starting – or “list” – prices or pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen that negotiate discounts on those list prices in exchange for favorable insurance coverage and access. Jorgensen said Novo Nordisk pays back about 75% of its medicine sales in rebates, discounts and fees, so the net price it receives is far lower than the list price. “The broad totality is that less patients have access to our medicines when we lowered the price,” Jorgensen told Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, after she pressed him to reduce list prices.

Persons: Sen, Bernie Sanders, ” Sanders, Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, ” Jorgensen, “, Sanders, Jorgensen, it’s, Maggie Hassan, drugmakers, ”, PBMs, scot, ” Sen, Tim Kaine, Roger Marshall, Eli Lilly, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, Tammy Baldwin Organizations: CNN, Nordisk’s, US, Health, Education, Labor, Pensions, Yale, Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, Nordisk, Novo Nordisk’s, Federal Trade Commission, CVS, Cigna’s, Republican, Wegovy’s, CNN Health, Medicare, Services Locations: United States, Danish, America, Canada, Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, New Hampshire, Big, Virginia, Kansas, Novo, Wisconsin

☆ FTC sues drug middlemen for allegedly inflating insulin prices
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-20 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Federal Trade Commission on Friday sued three large U.S. health companies that negotiate insulin prices, arguing the drug middlemen use practices that boost their profits while "artificially" inflating costs for patients. It comes three days after Express Scripts sued the FTC, demanding that the agency retract its allegedly "defamatory" July report that claimed that the PBM industry is hiking drug prices. It also alleges that PBMs favor those high-list-price insulins even when more affordable insulins with lower list prices become available. President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act has capped insulin prices for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 per month. The FTC said it remains "deeply troubled" by the role insulin manufacturers play in higher list prices, arguing that they inflate prices in response to PBMs' demands for higher rebates.

Persons: Lina Khan, UnitedHealth, drugmakers Eli Lilly, Caremark, PBMs, Rahul Rao, Rao, Joe Biden's, Biden, Eli Lilly, Eli Lilly's Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, CVS, Cigna's, FTC, Sanofi, Novo Nordisk, Express, Competition Locations: Rayburn, Washington ,, U.S, drugmakers, FTC's

☆ South Africa Runs Out of Insulin Pens as Global Supply Shifts to Weight-Loss Drugs
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-19 | by ( Stephanie Nolen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

South Africa’s public health care system has run out of the human insulin pens that it provides to people with diabetes, as the pharmaceutical industry shifts production priorities to blockbuster weight-loss drugs that use a similar device for delivery. Novo Nordisk, the company that has supplied South Africa with human insulin in pens for a decade, opted not to renew its contract, which expired last month. No other company has bid on the contract — to supply 14 million pens for the next three years, at about $2 per pen. Novo Nordisk’s drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which are widely prescribed in the U.S. for weight loss, are sold in single-use pens produced by many of the same contracted manufacturers who make the multidose insulin pens. A month’s supply of Ozempic in the United States costs about $1,000, far more than insulin.

Persons: ”, Ambre James, Brown Organizations: Novo Nordisk Locations: South Africa, U.S, Ozempic, United States

☆ Alphabet's new CFO was in the middle of the GLP-1 boom. Now she's onto generative AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Alphabet announced on Wednesday that Eli Lilly Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi will be its new CFO after an almost year-long search. Shares of Eli Lilly have soared 90% in the past year and are trading at a record. When she joined Eli Lilly in 2001, she came in through the company's new venture capital division, which was co-founded by her then-spouse Ron Laufer. Fastest growth in decadesFounded in 1876, Eli Lilly has long been one of the major U.S. pharmaceutical companies. But the last couple years have marked a period of historic growth for Eli Lilly due to the exploding popularity of GLP-1s.

Persons: Anat Ashkenazi, Eli Lilly Eli Lilly Alphabet's, Ruth Porat, Eli Lilly, Ashkenazi, it's, Eli Lilly's, David Ricks, Morgan Stanley, Sundar Pichai, Hollie Adams, Ron Laufer, John Smiley, Eli, It's, Trump, Eli Lilly's Covid, we're, Askhenazi, OpenAI's, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, CNBC's Eric Rosenbaum, Toby Lyles Organizations: San, San Francisco Bay Area, Google, Economic, Bloomberg, Getty, CNBC, Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, U.S . Food, Drug, U.S . Department of Justice, FDA, Reuters, Employees, NBC Locations: U.S, Indiana, San Francisco Bay, Davos, Switzerland, Israel, biopharma, North Carolina, Germany, New Jersey

The settlement is likely to benefit as many as 500,000 residents whether they have insurance or not, and it covers all Lilly brand-name insulin products, Ellison said at a news conference. Litigation remains pending against two other manufacturers named in the 2018 lawsuit, Sanofi-Aventis and Novo Nordisk. The American Diabetes Association says more than 8 million Americans use insulin, which the body needs to convert food into energy. President Joe Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act capped out-of-pocket costs of insulin to people on Medicare to $35 a month, but only for seniors. Novo Nordisk last year also announced plans for insulin price cuts starting this year.

Persons: Eli Lilly, Lilly, Keith Ellison, Ellison, ” Ellison, Joe Biden's, Alec Smith, Nicole Smith, Holt, ” Organizations: PAUL, —, Sanofi, Aventis, Novo Nordisk, American Diabetes Association, York, Medicare Locations: — Minnesota, Minnesota, California , Illinois, Arizona, Utah

☆ Questions and answers for weight loss medications semaglutide and tirzepatide
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Katia Hetter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —As prescriptions for popular weight loss drugs have soared, the class of medications known as GLP-1 agonists is changing the way people think about how to lose weight. Initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes, medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide have also been shown to be effective in promoting weight loss. Also, some people would do well without medications and could have sufficient weight loss with changes in diet and exercise. Wen: The FDA-approved versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide for weight loss are called Wegovy and Zepbound. CNN: Are there certain medications that preclude you from taking the weight loss drugs at the same time?

Persons: Leana Wen, Wen, Michael Siluk, tirzepatide, It’s, Eli Lilly Organizations: CNN, US Food and Drug Administration, George Washington University, FDA, BMI, Getty Images CNN, The New England, of Medicine, Novo Nordisk, semaglutide Locations: The

☆ Biden administration unveils first 10 drugs subject to Medicare price negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Fiasp and NovoLog, insulins made by Novo Nordisk The Medicare negotiations are the centerpiece of the Biden administration's efforts to rein in the rising cost of medications in the U.S. Drugmakers such as Merck and Johnson & Johnson and their supporters aim to derail the negotiations, filing at least eight lawsuits in recent months seeking to declare the policy unconstitutional. Drugmakers' legal challengesMerck, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Astellas Pharma are among the companies suing to halt the negotiation process. The suits make similar and overlapping claims that Medicare negotiations are unconstitutional. Biden and his top health officials have embraced the lawsuits as evidence that they're making progress in the fight to cut drug prices.

Persons: Biden, Joe Biden's, Boehringer Ingelheim, Johnson Januvia, Merck Farxiga, Novartis Enbrel, Amgen Imbruvica, AbbVie Stelara, Janssen, insulins, Johnson, Leigh Purvis, Drugmakers, drugmakers, Robert Davis Organizations: Bristol, Myers Squibb Jardiance, Johnson, Merck, AstraZeneca Entresto, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Medicare, Centers, Services, Biden, AARP Public, Institute, Congressional, Office, Myers Squibb, Astellas Pharma, U.S . Chamber, Commerce, Supreme, Court, Circuit Court, Pharma, White, Big Pharma Locations: U.S, Bristol

☆ Eli Lilly CEO vows not to raise insulin prices again, while Novo Nordisk and Sanofi hedge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the committee's chair, asked Ricks and the CEOs of Novo Nordisk and Sanofi to commit to "never increase the price of any insulin drug again." Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said the Danish company is committed to limiting price increases to "single digits." Net price refers to the amount insurers pay for an insulin drug after discounts and rebates. Sanofi said it plans to cut the price of its most popular insulin drug, Lantus, by 78% and reduce the list price of its short-acting insulin, Apidra, by 70%. At the hearing, Sanders called those actions "good news" and a result of public pressure.

☆ Novo Nordisk to slash U.S. insulin prices by up to 75%, following move by Eli Lilly
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Novo Nordisk Inc. NovoLog brand insulin pens are arranged for a photograph in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Friday, April 5, 2019. Novo Nordisk, one of the world's biggest insulin makers, will cut the list price of its NovoLog insulin by 75% and the prices for Levemir and Novolin by 65%, the company said in a press release. NovoLog's list price will fall to $139.71 from $558.83 for a pack of five injection pens. The company also said it plans to reduce the list price of its unbranded insulin products to match the lowered price of each respective branded insulin. Novo Nordisk, Lilly and Sanofi control over 90% of the global insulin market.

Eli Lilly, along with Sanofi (SASY.PA) and Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) make up 90% of the U.S. market for insulin. Biden, a Democrat, on Tuesday called on Congress and other manufacturers to lower the price of insulin as Lilly had done. The list price for Lispro, a cheaper version of its Humalog insulin, is currently $82.41 for 100 units/mL vials. List prices for drugs often differ from what patients actually pay, including after insurance and other assistance programs. Ricks said the company's insulin price cuts had been planned for some time and were accounted for in Eli Lilly's December financial forecast, which projected 2023 revenue of at least $30.3 billion.

☆ Insulin cuts make drug prices a little less bazaar
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

If drug companies don’t play along, insurance companies will go elsewhere. The list price of Sanofi’s (SASY.PA) insulins rose 143% between 2012 and 2021, but the net price fell 54%. Amgen (AMGN.O) offered an autoimmune disease drug earlier this year with two prices. American politicians have been pressuring drug companies to lower prices, and President Joe Biden welcomed the move. In theory, lower list prices mean everyone pays less out of pocket at the pharmacy.

☆ Lilly to cut insulin prices by 70%, cap prices at $35 per month for people with private insurance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Inflation Reduction Act capped insulin prices for Medicare beneficiaries at $35 per month but did not protect people with private insurance or who don't have coverage from higher prices. In President Joe Biden's State of the Union speech, he called on Congress to cap insulin prices at $35 a month for everyone. Lilly said it will cap out-of-pocket costs at $35 per month effectively immediately at certain retail pharmacies for people with private insurance. One in five people with diabetes who have private insurance pay more than $35 per month for insulin, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Democrats in Congress had pushed to cap insulin at $35 per month last summer for people with private insurance, but Senate Republicans killed the measure.

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