STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about Trump’s drug-pricing plan, a Moderna change of plans, and more
The Trump administration shared the outlines of how it plans to push drug companies to lower their prices in the U.S.
Hello, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, especially since the middle of the week is upon us. After all, we have made it this far so we are determined to hang on for another couple of days. And why not? The alternatives — at least those we can identify — are not particularly appealing, as you might imagine. So what better way to make the time fly than to keep busy. So grab that cup of stimulation and get started. Our choice today is Jack Daniels. Yes, this is a real thing. And now, the time has come to get cracking. Here are a few items of interest to help you get started. We hope you have a lovely day, and do keep in touch. And we will once again remind you that we changed our settings to accept postcards and telegrams. Back to the future, as they say. …
The Trump administration shared the outlines of how it plans to push drug companies to lower their prices in the U.S. and bring them more in line with other nations, STAT writes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will aim to negotiate drug prices down to the lowest prices paid by peer nations, and the pricing targets will apply to brand-name drugs that do not face competition from generics or biosimilars. Specifically, the plan asks companies to set their U.S. drug prices at the lowest level offered in countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and that have at least 60% of the gross domestic product per capita of the U.S. The announcement still leaves unanswered questions, such as the specific consequences for companies that do not lower their prices, or which prices the companies will be asked to lower. Drugs sold in the U.S. do not have a single price — different commercial insurers, Medicaid, and Medicare may all face different costs. What they pay is not necessarily connected to how much a patient owes when they pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.
Moderna has withdrawn an application seeking approval for its flu and Covid combination vaccine candidate after discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Reuters notes. The company said it would resubmit the application later this year with vaccine efficacy data from a late-stage trial of its experimental seasonal influenza vaccine, which it expects to report this summer. The decision comes a day after the FDA said it would require new clinical trials for approval of annual Covid-19 boosters for healthy people under 65 years. The FDA is due to make a decision on Moderna’s next-generation Covid-19 vaccine, which is a component of the combination flu-Covid shot, by the end of the month. Moderna has previously said it does not expect a delay in that decision. Moderna pushed back the timeframe for likely approval of its combination vaccine — meant to protect adults aged 50 and above against both Covid-19 and influenza — to 2026. The company has been banking on revenue from newer mRNA shots to make up for falling sales of its Covid vaccine and slow uptake of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine.
