Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating, because that oh-so-familiar routine of deadlines, online meetings, and hustling about has predictably returned. But what can you do? The world, such as it is, continues to spin. So to nudge it in a direction that is a bit less wobbly, we are brewing a cup of stimulation. Our choice today is salted caramel mocha — a touch of the delightful Jersey Shore. Please feel free to join us. Meanwhile, here are a few tidbits to wash down. We hope your day is pleasant and productive. And as always, do keep in touch. We enjoy human contact …
A blockbuster arthritis drug from Novartis may face a limit on what Colorado health plans pay for the medicine after a state board determined the injectable treatment is “unaffordable” for patients, STAT reports. The Colorado Prescription Drug Affordability Board voted Friday to grant the designation to Cosentyx, which is used to treat conditions such as plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The vote means the board will decide in a follow-up meeting whether to pursue an upper payment limit for the drug, which an affordability review found cost an average of roughly $47,000 per patient in 2022.
The rare disease community is pushing for changes in the Inflation Reduction Act as more companies reconsider drug development for small patient populations, Bloomberg Law says. Some drug makers are halting or reshaping research into rare disease drugs over concerns they may not recoup their costs. The Medicare negotiation program exempts from bargaining orphan drugs with a single Food and Drug Administration indication to treat a rare disease. But drugs with designations to treat more than one rare disease or condition will not qualify for exclusion and may be subject to price negotiations, even if not been approved for indications for an added rare disease or condition.
