News from Thursday, May 14, 2026
Articles
The Prior Authorization System Fails Patients. There's a Better Way
(5/14, Dean Erhardt, PharmExec) comments “...Health care organizations have been slow to adopt technology due to concerns about patient impact, data privacy and legacy systems. Facilities can reduce risk by focusing on one inefficient workflow and layering an AI tool on top of an existing information hub. The algorithm works with the system data without changing any infrastructure. PA is the perfect place to start this targeted approach. Organizations already have access to the critical information — patient eligibility, benefits, clinical requirements, etc. They just need a tool to collect and process it.” Full
Exclusive: Sen. Welch Would Back Trump's Most Favored Nation Drug Policy Plan
(5/13, Josephine Walker, Axios) reports "Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said Wednesday he'd back President Trump's push to pursue a 'most-favored nation' drug policy at Axios Future of Health summit. Why it matters: Bipartisan support will be necessary for Congress to codify Trump's plan into law at a time when a majority of Americans are at least somewhat worried about being able to afford prescription drugs." Full
Two SMA Drugs Move to Routine NHS Funding
(5/14, Dr Sheena Meredith, Medscape) reports “The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that two drugs for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) — nusinersen (Spinraza, Biogen) and risdiplam (Evrysdi, Roche) — move to routine NHS commissioning in England, backed by 7 years of real-world evidence collected under managed access schemes.” Full
Joint MHRA/NICE Pathway 'Benefits Industry over Patients'
(5/14, Phil Taylor, PharmaPhorum) reports “...‘Earlier access to effective new drugs can matter for patients with substantial unmet needs, and months of delay can carry clinical consequences,’ writes Naci, an associate professor in the Department of Health Policy at the LSE and founder and director of the Pharmaceutical Policy Lab, in the editorial. ‘But the pathway does not target this population; it will expedite NHS availability of new medicines irrespective of evidence of added therapeutic benefit,’ he adds, pointing to a similar scheme in Canada that ‘resulted in no difference in time to availability between drugs with and without added therapeutic benefit.’” Full
Press Releases
New Research Identifies Steps to Improve Gene Therapy Contracting and Patient Access
(5/14, National Pharmaceutical Council Press Release) “New research from the National Pharmaceutical Council published in the Journal of Managed Care + Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP) outlines consensus-based principles and practices intended to make payment models for gene therapies in the U.S. more efficient, scalable, and patient-centered...‘Innovative contracts are one tool among many, and they work best when designed well. This research outlines clear principles, such as protecting patients from additional out-of-pocket costs, streamlining data collection, and reducing complexity, that are critical to getting them right,’ said lead author and NPC Director of Research Tyler Wagner. ‘By sharing these ideas, we hope to improve how these therapies are used and paid for, making sure all individuals who need gene therapies can access them.’” Full
Perioperative Imfinzi plus Neoadjuvant EV Showed Statistically Significant and Clinically Meaningful Improvements in Event-Free Survival and Overall Survival in Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer in the Phase III VOLGA Trial
(5/14, AstraZeneca Press Release) “...Thomas Powles, MD, Professor, Chair of Barts Cancer Centre (QMUL), London, UK, and International Coordinating Investigator for the trial, said: ‘Up to half of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer are not eligible for cisplatin and face high rates of disease recurrence, even after having their bladder removed, leaving a significant need for new effective and well-tolerated treatments. The VOLGA results show that perioperative durvalumab significantly extends event-free survival and overall survival when combined with neoadjuvant enfortumab vedotin, with a manageable safety profile, compared to surgery for patients in this curative-intent setting.’” Full
Ontada Presents 12 Real-World Research Studies at ISPOR 2026
(5/14, Ontada Press Release) “...To continue advancing impactful real-world oncology research, Ontada is launching ON.Journey, a new portfolio of off-the-shelf, longitudinal oncology datasets. Built using oncology-specific artificial intelligence and natural language processing applied to structured and unstructured clinical data from Ontada’s proprietary dataset of electronic medical records from community oncology practices, ON.Journey enables medical affairs, health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), epidemiology, and real-world evidence teams to generate rich clinical insights with speed.” Full
Truven Launches MarketScan Partner Ecosystem to Expand Real-World Evidence Options
(5/14, Truven Press Release) “...Clients can expand evidence generation beyond closed claims with access to datasets spanning ambulatory and specialty EHR data, inpatient and facility-level detail, laboratory and diagnostic results, patient-level data collected outside traditional care settings, and more. The ecosystem capabilities build on the strength of MarketScan. With representative, longitudinal, claims-linked evidence, MarketScan has the most widely published and accepted real-world datasets in healthcare.” Full
CMS Announces Early Adopters to Advance Solutions for Electronic Prior Authorization, Accelerating Momentum Ahead of 2027 Requirements
(5/13, CMS Press Release) “...‘Prior authorization won’t be fixed by technology alone. It requires the entire healthcare system to work together to solve real-world challenges,’ said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. ‘CMS continues to bring organizations together to do just that, and these early adopters are choosing to lead. This work will help reduce administrative burden, giving clinicians more time to focus on patients and helping people get care faster.’” Full
Over 1,500 People Set to Benefit from First Immunotherapy for Aggressive Stomach Cancer
(5/14, NICE Press Release) “More than 1,500 people a year with an aggressive form of stomach cancer are set to receive a new treatment available on the NHS from today, after NICE recommended durvalumab - the first immunotherapy for people with this form of cancer. Durvalumab, also known as Imfinzi and made by AstraZeneca, is recommended for adults whose stomach (gastric and gastro-oesophageal junction) cancer has not spread extensively and can be removed through surgery.” Full
Journals
Principles and Practices for Successful Gene Therapy Innovative Contracting: Insights from a Multistakeholder Convening
Tyler D. Wagner, PharmD, PhD, Jacqlyn W. Riposo, MBA, Kendra M. Gould, MSPH, Jonathan D. Campbell, PhD, James T. Kenney, RPh, MBA, and Theresa Schmidt, MA
May 4, 2026, Journal of Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy
Comparative Effectiveness of Bevacizumab and Olaparib Maintenance Therapy in Platinum-Sensitive Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: A Real-World Study with Exploratory Evaluation of Dose Reduction
Shunsuke Tatsuki, et al.
April 22, 2026, Cancers (Basel)
Editorial: Aligned MHRA-NICE Approval Pathway Benefits Industry over Patients
Huseyin Naci
May 13, 2026, BMJ
Matching-Adjusted Indirect Comparison of Acoltremon Ophthalmic Solution 0.003% and Cyclosporine 0.05% Ophthalmic Emulsion for Increased Tear Production in Patients with Dry Eye Disease
Stephen Pflugfelder, et al.
May 14, 2026, Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research