AstraZeneca will not raise the price of its medications in 2018, joining the ranks of numerous drug companies changing their pricing strategies after scrutiny from President Donald Trump, reports Reuters.
Pharmacy
Biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences' President and CEO John F. Milligan, PhD, is stepping down by 2019, the company said July 25.
Embattled OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma hired Steve Miller, a famous figure in corporate restructuring, to head its board as the drugmaker seeks to overhaul its business and distance itself from the U.S. opioid crisis, Bloomberg reports.
A proposed policy threatening to overhaul safe harbor protections for pharmaceutical company rebates, which largely benefits pharmacy benefit managers, sent shares of the PBMs sliding July 19, according to MarketWatch.
The Trump administration is considering a proposal that will remove or alter safe harbor protections for pharmaceutical company rebates — a plan that could reshape how prescription drugs are priced and sold, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Advertisement
Merck became the first drugmaker to voluntarily lower the costs of several drugs after President Donald Trump called out the pharmaceutical industry for raising prices and failing to make healthcare affordable for patients, according to Reuters.
President Donald Trump on July 19 thanked Pfizer and Novartis for holding off on raising the prices of their medications.
The 46 medicines that received approval through 2017 as part of the FDA's Breakthrough Therapy program are often sent to patients without sufficient evidence to back them or prove their benefits, a study published in JAMA found.
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, slammed drugmakers, accusing them of using "gaming tactics" to stall biosimilars, a move that cost the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars last year, Bloomberg reports.
After its rival Pfizer was slammed on Twitter by President Donald Trump for raising the price of several drugs, Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis announced it will halt drug price increases in the U.S. for the remainder of the year, according…