Critics: Letting Generic Drugmaker Join PhRMA Akin To Allowing A Spy Into The Fold
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries' request to join the powerful trade association has caused alarm in the industry. Teva and some of PhRMA’s longtime members, like Eli Lilly, are on opposite sides of court cases involving patents and other important issues for the future of brand-name drug companies.
The New York Times:
Brand-Name Drug Makers Wary Of Letting Generic Rival Join Their Club
For decades, brand-name and generic drug companies have fought each other in Congress, at international trade negotiations and in court. So when the world’s largest generic drug company moved this year to join the powerful trade association for producers of brand-name medicines, pharmaceutical lobbyists were in a swivet. The trade group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, known as PhRMA, is plunging into battles over drug prices here and in many state capitols. And the request from the generic company, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, is raising eyebrows in PhRMA’s secretive councils. (Pear, 7/1)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
UnitedHealthcare Sues Dialysis Chain Over Billing
Private health insurers can pay more than $4,000 for each dialysis treatment. Government health plans like Medicaid pay around $200. That gaping price difference was the motivation for a scheme, orchestrated by a for-profit dialysis chain, that illegally pushed poor people in Florida and Ohio out of inexpensive government programs and into expensive private plans sold by UnitedHealthcare, according to a lawsuit the giant insurer filed in federal court on Friday. UnitedHealthcare says the arrangement needlessly exposed the patients to medical bills. (Abelson and Thomas, 7/1)
Modern Healthcare:
Supreme Court Term Mixed Bag For Healthcare Industry
Last year, healthcare leaders had their eyes trained on one big case – King v. Burwell – and they celebrated when the justices voted to uphold a key provision of the Affordable Care Act. This year wasn't nearly so straightforward for healthcare leaders watching the Supreme Court, which wrapped up its latest term this week. (Schenker, 7/3)
The New York Times:
Sex May Spread Zika Virus More Often Than Researchers Suspected
An outbreak of the Zika virus in the continental United States could begin any day now. But while there is plenty of discussion about mosquito bites, some researchers are beginning to worry more about the other known transmission route: sex. Intimate contact may account for more Zika infections than previously suspected, these experts say. The evidence is still emerging, and recent findings are hotly disputed. All experts agree that mosquitoes are the epidemic’s main driver. (McNeil, 7/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Weight-Loss Tactics For The Moderately Obese
The Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a host of new weight-loss interventions that make millions more people eligible for obesity treatments. Among the devices are balloons that inflate inside the stomach and leave less room for food, electrical impulses that trick the brain into thinking the stomach is full and a tube that lets people drain out some of their stomach contents after meals. The new interventions don’t require major surgery and are reversible; several are aimed at the estimated 60 million Americans who are only moderately obese, with a body-mass index of 30 to 40. (Beck, 7/4)