Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, especially given the crystal clear blue skies and a warm sun hovering overhead. It is, in fact, nearly balmy on the Pharmalot campus. So to celebrate, we are firing up the trusty coffee kettle for another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is the refined Swiss chocolate almond. As always, you are invited to join us. Meanwhile, we have, once again, assembled a menu of tidbits for you to peruse, and we wish you a meaningful and productive journey today. But do keep in touch. We confess to feeling lonely without the usual postcards and telegrams. …
The European Medicines Agency will investigate any risks to the availability of medicines processed at Catalent sites that will be sold to Novo Nordisk as part of its mandate to prevent drug shortages, Reuters says. The regulator said its Medicine Shortages Single Point of Contact Working Party will meet with member states to gather data on products made at the sites and “assess the possible impact on the availability of these medicines,” but did not provide the names of the drugs in question. On Monday, Novo Nordisk moved to boost output of its popular obesity drug Wegovy as its parent holding company struck a deal to buy Catalent, a key contract manufacturer of the product, for $16.5 billion.
The chief executives of Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck, and Johnson & Johnson are set to appear in front of the Senate health committee to defend how much they charge for drugs in the U.S., drawing them further into a confrontation with lawmakers and the Biden administration over the cost of some of the most widely used prescription medications, The New York Times notes. The executives are expected to clash with committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has made reining in drug prices a signature cause of his late-career years in Congress. Sanders plans to focus the hearing on why drug prices are higher in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries.