Jackie Syrop

October 13, 2017

Pharmaceutical manufacturers often pay significant rebates on brand-name medications to pharmacy benefit managers or health plans to reduce the cost of pharmacy benefits and promote their brand-name drugs. Traditionally, these rebates have been provided to payers—not to health plan members.

October 12, 2017

A recent study found that, while biologic agents improved outcomes in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, they incurred such high costs that they were deemed cost ineffective, particularly for use as maintenance therapy.

October 12, 2017

The number of patients with Crohn’s disease who receive biologic therapy is strongly correlated with the gross domestic product in 10 European countries, according to a recent analysis.

October 11, 2017

Insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers use step-therapy policies to require doctors to prescribe older, less expensive drugs first, which patients must fail to respond to adequately before they become eligible for newer, more expensive treatments.

October 09, 2017

Amazon may be in the final phase of its decision to enter the online prescription drug sales market, according to analysts. Although Amazon has declined to comment, experts believe the company will decide before Thanksgiving whether it will enter the marketplace.

October 07, 2017

A European study published this week finds that, at a minimum of 3.3 years after market entry, there was no conclusive evidence that many oncology drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency between 2009 and 2013 either extended or improved life in most oncology indications.

October 05, 2017

Indication-based pricing is a method used to reimburse drug makers according to a drug’s indication-specific value when the drug has multiple indications. A number of healthcare payers have already implemented or are planning to implement IBP, including Express Scripts, the largest US pharmacy benefit manager.

October 04, 2017

The number of people who had annual prescription medication costs of $50,000 or more in 2016 was 35% higher than it was in 2014, according to pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts.

October 04, 2017

The FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System Public Dashboard, a new, user-friendly tool available to search the FDA’s adverse event database for drugs and biologics, has been launched.

October 02, 2017

A Brazilian study reports that adverse events occurred in approximately two thirds of patients with Crohn’s disease who were taking the anti-tumor necrosis factor medications infliximab and adalimumab.