Top of the morning to you. Another steamy day is unfolding here at the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are scampering about and enjoying summertime fun. As for the rest of us, well, we can only dream. But our to-do list will keep us busy, including chats with some interesting folks. Hopefully, you can relate. Either way, it is time to get cracking. So we are firing up the coffee kettle to brew another cup of stimulation — our choice today is peppermint mocha. And as always, here are a few tidbits to get you going. Have a grand day, and keep us in mind if you hear anything interesting. …
Vertex Pharmaceuticals filed a lawsuit to make it possible to pay for fertility preservation services and treatment for people receiving its Casgevy sickle cell disease therapy, which can interfere with reproduction, STAT writes. The company challenged an oral opinion issued by the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General that its fertility support program would violate federal anti-kickback laws and accused the agency of failing to meet a statutory deadline to issue a written opinion. The program provides financial support for such services as counseling, fertility drugs, collection and storage of sperm and eggs, genetic testing, and in vitro fertilization, up to $70,000.
A U.S. judge dealt a blow to Hawaii’s litigation against the country’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers, dismissing a state lawsuit that argued the companies inflated the costs of insulin and other drugs, Bloomberg News reports. Judge Leslie Kobayashi of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii on July 12 granted the motion to dismiss that was filed by CVS Health’s Caremark, UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx, and Cigna Group’s Express Scripts. The ruling came during a video teleconference hearing with attorneys for the PBMs and Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez, who filed the lawsuit in state court in October 2023. Lopez has 45 days to file an amended complaint.
