Good morning, everyone, and welcome to another working week. We hope the weekend respite was relaxing and invigorating, because that familiar routine of deadlines, online meetings, and the like has predictably returned. To cope, yes, we are firing up the coffee kettle to brew another cup of stimulation. Our choice today is Tuscan tiramisu. As always, you are invited to join us. Meanwhile, we have assembled a few items of interest to help you jumpstart the day. We hope that all goes well and that you conquer the world. And of course, do stay in touch. …
President Trump rescinded an executive order that prompted the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to create three drug-pricing experiments that have not yet gotten fully off the ground, STAT tells us. The first model aimed to help state Medicaid programs pay for cell and gene therapies that are highly effective but expensive. The idea was to create multi-state purchasing agreements that would allow states to not pay for drugs if they were ineffective. CMMI has started the process of enrolling states in the pilot program. The second experiment tests having Medicare pay less for drugs that receive accelerated approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The reduced payments would, theoretically, incentivize drugmakers to finish studying the medicines through confirmatory trials. The final pilot project is designed to encourage Medicare prescription drug plans to offer generics for common chronic conditions for a flat, $2 copay. The goal was to standardize copays for generics and encourage patients to continue taking medications.
AstraZeneca overhauled its local management in China in a bid to move on from recent scandals and revive sales after the arrest of its president in the country, The Financial Times reports. The company appointed new executives to lead its Chinese oncology business, which has come under intense scrutiny over two incidents including alleged illegal sales practices for cancer drugs. The scandal ensnared the China president Leon Wang, who the company announced in November had been detained, along with several other employees. Alex Lin, who was one of Wang’s senior managers, is replacing Michael Lai as country general manager. Lai has moved to the U.S. to be in charge of a key cancer drug for AstraZeneca and report to the head of oncology. The drugmaker promoted Mary Guan, who was previously at its Chinese general medicines unit, to lead oncology in China.
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