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Multibillion Dollar Anticancer Agents Boost Industry Sales
While lawmakers, payers, and patient advocates are raising a voice against the sky-rocketing costs of the newer breakthorugh agents in cancer, the drug developers can boast a strong start to the year with big sales figures.
U.S. drugmakers got a strong start to the year with help from the newest cancer medications, which take advantage of cutting-edge research and have the price tags to prove it.
Pfizer Inc, Merck & Co, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co all beat Wall Street’s earnings projections in the first quarter, with sales of their new oncology drugs surpassing expectations. Analysts estimate each drugmaker will have a multibillion dollar blockbuster cancer treatment by 2018. Cancer is one of the biggest targets for drugmakers right now, with scientific breakthroughs helping fuel a series of new drugs.
“Their pipelines are going to be a lot stronger than what people have thought,” said Tony Scherrer, director of research at Smead Capital Management, which holds both Pfizer and Merck shares. “You’re starting to see that come to light this quarter.” With prices for the treatments extending into the six figures for a year of treatment, the drugmakers have drawn criticism from lawmakers, insurers and patient advocates who say the cost of medicine is rising too quickly for the healthcare system to absorb it. The companies say they’re working to make sure sick people have access to the treatments and that the medications can reduce costs over time by helping patients get healthier and live longer.
Link to the article on Bloomberg:
Government agencies have created an online portal for the public to report potential anticompetitive practices in health care; there are changes coming to the “boxed warning” section for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies (CAR T) to highlight T-cell blood cancer risk; questions about the safety of obesity medications during pregnancy have arisen in women on them who previously struggled with fertility issues.
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Navigating Health Policy in an Election Year: Insights From Dr Dennis Scanlon
April 2nd 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with Dennis Scanlon, PhD, the editor in chief of The American Journal of Accountable Care®, about prior authorization, price transparency, the impact of health policy on the upcoming election, and more.
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Gene, Light Therapy Combo Shows Promise Against Prostate Cancer Cells in Proof-of-Concept Study
April 18th 2024In their preclinical model, the researchers found efficacy both in vitro and in vivo by using CRISPR-Cas9 to mimic porphyria and combining the technology with light therapy.
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Many Patients With Psoriasis in Clinical Trials Experience Nocebo Effects, Study Finds
April 18th 2024Half of patients exposed to placebo in clinical trials experienced adverse events (AEs), which may be partially explainable by nocebo effects, according to a recent review and meta-analysis.
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