News from Monday, March 31, 2025
Articles
Value Viewpoint: March 28, 2025
(3/28, Kimberly Westrich, LinkedIn) comments “A new commentary in the American Journal of Managed Care suggests that decision-makers take both a product's lifetime view and a broader societal perspective when evaluating and rewarding value creation. Coauthors Mel Whittington (Leerink Center for Pharmacoeconomics), Lou Garrison (University of Washington), and Jon Campbell (National Pharmaceutical Council), find four reasons why comparing a launch price with a value-based price from a conventional cost-effectiveness analysis requires further examination before jumping to a judgment about its policy relevance.” Full
ACP Issues Clinical Guideline for Pharmacologic Treatment of Acute Episodic Migraine
(3/31, HealthDay News) reports “...‘There is a critical need for funding agencies, such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute or National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, to support well-designed, comparative effectiveness trials of newer medications to treat moderate-to-severe episodic migraine compared with the combination of a triptan and an NSAID or acetaminophen,’ the authors write.” Full
England’s NICE To ‘Explore’ Severity Modifier Changes As Cost-Effectiveness Threshold Branded ‘Ridiculous’
(3/31, Eliza Slawther, Pink Sheet) reports “...It is ‘ridiculous’ that England’s health technology assessment (HTA) agency, NICE, uses a single threshold for the cost-effectiveness of most medicines to decide whether they can be funded through the National Health Service, the Office for Health Economics’ senior principal economist, Chris Sampson, said at the annual NICE conference.” Subscription Required
Press Releases
Study Finds Higher 340B Profit Margins for Facilities Serving Wealthier Communities, With Stronger Bargaining Positions
(3/31, National Pharmaceutical Council Press Release) “...‘With increased attention on the expansion and impact of the 340B program, we wanted to better understand what factors impact profit margins in 340B,’ said [Julie A. Patterson, PharmD, PhD]. ‘The data showed that covered entities with more market power see higher margins – which you might expect. But it also showed that higher margins were associated with increased affluence of the community where the covered entity is located – which isn’t how you’d expect a program that is supposed to be focused on the uninsured and vulnerable to function.’...‘This adds to the body of literature about how the 340B program often serves as a drug markup program for hospitals and covered entities that costs employers, states, and ultimately patients,’ said NPC President and CEO John O’Brien, PharmD, MPH.” Full
FAME-3 Study Reveals Similar Outcomes for CABG and PCI in Severe Triple-Vessel Heart Disease
(3/31, American College of Cardiology Press Release) “In sharp contrast to earlier studies, patients with severe triple-vessel heart disease fared equally well whether they underwent open-heart bypass surgery (CABG) or a less invasive procedure called PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) at five years of follow-up, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).” Full
Journals
Pharmacologic Treatments of Acute Episodic Migraine Headache in Outpatient Settings: A Clinical Guideline From the American College of Physicians
Amir Qaseem, MD, PhD, MHA, et al.
March 18, 2025, Annals of Internal Medicine
The Association of 340B Program Drug Margins with Covered Entity Characteristics
Robert J. Nordyke, PhD, James Motyka, PharmD, and Julie A. Patterson, PharmD, PhD
March 23, 2025, INQUIRY