STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about chemo drugs failing quality tests, Gavi losing U.S. funding, and more
And other pharma news of the day from the Pharmalot campus.
Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Clear blue skies and pleasant breezes are wafting across the Pharmalot campus, a welcome change after the unusually steamy heat of the past few days. This gives us hope that we can focus more readily on the matters at hand — rummaging through our to-do list and making cups of stimulation. Our choice today is banana split, which has risen to the top of our list of favorites. Sounds appetizing, yes? As always, we invite you to join us. Meanwhile, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started on your journey. We hope that your day is simply smashing and that you conquer the world. And of course, do keep in touch. We appreciate suggestions, criticism, and juicy tips. …
Vital chemotherapy drugs used around the world have failed quality tests, putting cancer patients in more than 100 countries at risk of ineffective treatments and potentially fatal side effects, an investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) reveals. The generic drugs in question form the backbone of treatment plans for numerous common cancers, including breast, ovarian, and leukemia. Some drugs contained so little of their key ingredient that pharmacists said giving them to patients would be as good as doing nothing. Other drugs, containing too much of the active ingredient, create the risk of severe organ damage or even death. Doctors from multiple countries said the drugs in question did not work as expected, leaving patients suddenly unresponsive to treatment. Other patients suffered side effects so toxic they could no longer tolerate the drug. The variance found in the levels of active ingredients was alarming. In some cases, pills from the same blister pack contained different amounts. The findings expose huge holes in the global safety nets intended to prevent manufacturers from cutting corners to boost profits and to protect patients from bad drugs.
CVS Health must reimburse the federal government at least $95 million after a court ruled the company’s pharmacy benefit manager subsidiary overcharged Medicare for generic drugs, Modern Healthcare writes. A whistleblower lawsuit that originated in 2014 and filed by an executive at Aetna — now a CVS Health unit — alleged CVS Caremark inflated Medicare Part D drug prices to offset higher costs in other lines of business. The lawsuit claimed Caremark contracted with pharmacies to pay a fixed average price but caused higher prices to be reported. Caremark contracts with CVS pharmacies did not include generic effective rate guarantees, or a promise to pay an average price for drugs over a year. Instead, from 2013 to 2016, contracts with CVS pharmacies budgeted GER, which were created by senior CVS executives, to ensure “that the planning assumptions for both businesses would align,” a former chief accounting officer for CVS said during trial. Caremark would then change maximum allowable cost prices for commercial drugs to make sure the budgeted GER was met. Former employees say budgeted GERs were treated as a “forecast” but could change throughout the year, unlike a contractual GER.
