FDA Actions in Brief June 2012

Today’s approval means that FluMist is the first pharmacy-prescribed influenza vaccine that does not need to be given by a healthcare professional.

In this week's episode of Tuning Into The C-Suite podcast, MHE's Briana Contreras chatted with David Calabrese, R.Ph, MHP, who is senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer of pharmacy care services company, OptumRx. David is also a member of Managed Healthcare Executives’ Editorial Advisory Board. During the discussion, he shared the OptumRx Quarter 2 Drug Pipeline Insights Report of 2020. Some of the information shared includes the three notable drugs currently being reviewed or those that have been recently approved by the FDA. Also discussed were any interesting industry trends to watch for.

When CMS begins negotiations for physician-administered drugs under the Inflation Reduction Act, providers, including those whose services are covered by commercial insurance, could see lowered reimbursement.

Whether Express Scripts wins its unique defamation lawsuit will depend on whether the PBM can prove the FTC made false statements. But winning the lawsuit may not be what the PBM is looking for.

More than half (60%) of patients in latest trial reached active remission and 41% stopped taking corticosteroid entirely.

Express Scripts alleges in its suit that the FTC followed “prejudice and politics, not evidence or sound economics,” and that there is no support for the assertion that the power of PBMs has increased over time.