CER Daily Newsfeed

ICER Calls on CMS to Lower Price of Takeda Blockbuster Entyvio to Stelara's Level

(3/3, Zachary Brennan, Endpoints News) reports “...Takeda told Endpoints via email, ‘We do not believe ICER’s current economic-based methodology appropriately captures the real-world value of medicines, including patient-centered outcomes and longer-term or harder-to-measure benefits. By using a narrow set of comparators that are not fully aligned with current clinical practice or guideline-recommended treatment sequences, the economic models used underestimate the true impact of therapies on patients, caregivers and society.’” Subscription Required

Trump's Ending of Hospital Drug Discount Tax Scam Deserves Full-Throated Defense

(3/3, Steve Forbes, The Washington Times) comments “...The Trump administration's effort to bring transparency to the 340B drug discount program is precisely the kind of reform so desperately needed for our deeply troubled health care system...What began as a targeted safety net support has metastasized into a sprawling, multibillion-dollar system with minimal guardrails. Participation has exploded. Large, sophisticated hospital systems, some with gleaming campuses and healthy balance sheets, have entered the program in force. The opportunity to pay a low price for a drug and then charge Medicaid a lot more for reimbursement is simply too attractive to ignore.” Full

FDA Watchers Warn of 'Chaos' Inside Agency, as Regulatory Delays, Staff Hemorrhaging Risk America's Health

(3/3, Ian Thomas, CNBC) reports “...‘The problem is that the commissioner is replacing standards of safety and efficacy with fear and favor,’ Congressman Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) said to CNBC's Becky Quick at the CNBC Cures Summit in New York City on Tuesday. Auchincloss added that Makary's actions are ‘undermining patient confidence in the therapies that come to market, and that is undermining the ability of innovators to bring medicines to market with confidence.’”... Full