News from Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Articles
A Plan to Access Cheap Drugs Backfires, Leaving Patient With $250,000 Bill
(4/22, John Tozzi, Bloomberg) reports “...Zeihen’s plight stemmed from a strategy that some US employers are embracing to offset prescription drug costs. Rather than covering expensive medicines on their health plans, they hire outside firms that promise to help patients get supplies of free or subsidized medications that pharmaceutical companies set aside for people who can’t pay. Drugmakers are catching on to these companies, sometimes called ‘alternative funders,’ and are tightening their rules for who can get assistance.” Subscription Required
BMS Receives NICE Recommendation for Immunotherapy Combination in Colorectal Cancer
(4/23, Emily Kimber, PMLiVE) reports “Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced that its dual immunotherapy combination has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as a first-line treatment for a subset of colorectal cancer patients.” Full
Kiji CEO On EU HTA Regulation, Hospital Exemption & The Future Of ATMPs
(4/23, Eliza Slawther, Pink Sheet) reports “...Changes to global political, investment and regulatory systems could impact the speed at which cell and gene therapy companies are able to develop products, but Miguel Forte, CEO of Kiji Therapeutics, remains confident in the ‘intrinsic value’ of the technology itself.” Subscription Required
Press Releases
Cleveland Clinic Awarded More Than $7M From Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to Advance Treatment of MS, Hypertension
(4/22, Cleveland Clinic Press Release) “...The project will extend the multicenter DELIVER-MS study, a three-year randomized clinical trial comparing two treatment approaches in MS head-to-head: starting with an early highly effective treatment approach, using more potent therapies, or an escalation approach beginning with safer but potentially less effective treatments and escalating as needed.” Full
Journals
Comparison of B-Cell Depletion Versus Natalizumab for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis: A Semi-Supervised Causal Analysis
Dominic DiSanto, et al.
April 22, 2025, medRxiv
A Comparison of Healthcare Resource Utilization and Costs Between Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treated with First-Line Ibrutinib or Acalabrutinib Using Two Large US Real-World Databases
Kerry A Rogers, et al.
April 22, 2025, Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research
Combining Machine Learning and Comparative Effectiveness Methodology to Study Primary Care Pharmacotherapy Pathways for Veterans With Depression
Ozgur Ozmen, et al.
April 22, 2025, Medical Care
Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Colistin-Based Versus High-Dose Ampicillin/Sulbactam-Based Combination Therapy for Nosocomial Pneumonia Caused by Carbapenem-Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii
Jaehoon Lee, et al.
April 23, 2025, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy
Provider Experiences with and Attitudes about an Embedded Pragmatic Clinical Trial
Sarah M. Leatherman, et al.
April 23, 2025, BMC Primary Care
Reports
Exploration of Health Level Seven Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources for Use in Study Data Created From Real-World Data Sources for Submission to the Food and Drug Administration; Establishment of a Public Docket; Request for Comments
April 23, 2025