Pharmacy

Novartis CAR-T chief David Lebwohl is leaving the Swiss company to join Semma Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based drugmaker developing a stem-cell cure for diabetes, according to EndPoints News.

Swiss drugmaker Novartis is looking to partner with global reinsurance companies to help health systems bear the cost of new generation, personalized therapies, according to the Financial Times.

Johnson & Johnson plans to repurchase up to $5 billion of its stock after losing more $50 billion in market value in two days of trading after a Reuters report surfaced that the drugmaker knew its baby powder contained carcinogenic…

Grocery chain Kroger has launched discount program for patients picking up prescription drugs at its pharmacies, according to a STAT news report.

As pressure mounts to reduce patient length of stay, skilled nursing facilities are particularly feeling the pinch of escalating drug costs, according to Skilled Nursing News.

Pharmacy benefit managers' business model is being threatened by federal regulatory and political efforts to cut healthcare costs; however, vertical mergers and acquisitions between PBMs and health insurers could deter some of these changes, according to Fitch Ratings.

Federal lawmakers have proposed legislation allowing HHS to push back on drug price hikes, according to a Reuters report.

A jury convicted a co-owner and four ex-employees of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy of committing fraud and other illegal activities that boosted its business before a 2012 meningitis outbreak associated with the facility's drugs, according to Reuters.

New York City-based Synergy Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company that develops gastrointestinal therapies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Adam Schechter, Merck's president of global human health, will step down from his position Dec. 31. He has been with Merck for 30 years.