August 28, 2024

The need-to-know this morning

Neurocrine Biosciences said the lowest dose of an experimental pill for schizophrenia reduced psychosis reported by patients in a mid-stage study, but higher doses of the drug also tested were ineffective.
Bayer and NextRNA Therapeutics announced a collaboration to develop RNA-based, small molecule drugs for cancer.

pharma

Pfizer partners with Flagship company on heart and renal drugs

Flagship Pioneering said today that one of its biotechs, Quotient Therapeutics, will partner with Pfizer to identify new targets for cardiovascular and renal drugs.

Quotient, which has offices in both Massachusetts and the U.K., is focused on developing treatments for illnesses caused by somatic mutations, which are genetic changes that occur as people age, as opposed to germline mutations that are present from birth and can be passed down to future generations.

This is part of a previously announced deal in which Pfizer and Flagship would each invest $50 million to work on 10 drug programs. Under the agreement, Pfizer has the option to acquire each program, and Flagship and its companies will be eligible to receive up to $700 million in milestone payments and royalties for each successfully commercialized drug.

insurance

How UnitedHealth upended a medical network

For months, my colleagues have been investigating how UnitedHealth has stealthily built up a massive physician empire and exploited its growing power to milk the system for profit. In the latest in their ongoing series, they zoomed in on one primary care network in Connecticut.

About 10 years after United acquired the group, doctors are retiring or leaving earlier than they planned. Patients with serious medical conditions struggle to make appointments, while others complain of mysterious diagnoses popping up in their charts.

"We used to always have 25 openings at the beginning of every day for people who are sick. And if you called our practice, we would see you today, always," one doctor said. But after United's Optum took over, "when our patients called, there weren't openings for weeks and weeks and they were told to go to the emergency room."

glp-1s

Hims takes a blow from Lilly's vial news

Share in Hims & Hers, one of the most prominent telehealth companies offering compounded GLP-1 drugs, sunk over 7% yesterday. This came after Eli Lilly launched vials of its obesity drug Zepbound, which had previously only been offered in the U.S. as injectable pens.

Patients have increasingly turned to cheap, compounded GLP-1 treatments as the branded options carry a high price tag and have fallen into repeated shortages. One way Lilly is trying to combat that is with its new vials, which are priced lower than the list price of Zepbound pens and are easier and faster to manufacture.

vTFET-hims-falls-after-lilly-debuts-zepbound-vials

Despite how investors have responded, it's not clear if Lilly's new offering will actually dissuade patients from going to compounders. The Zepbound vials are priced up to $549 a month, while Hims offers compounded options as low as $199 a month.

Elsewhere, Lemonaid Health, a telehealth provider owned by 23andMe, said today that it's also started to offer compounded GLP-1 drugs — a further indication that telehealth companies will not be deterred from the market, even as pharma giants like Lilly threaten legal action against some players.

policy

Medicare's new coverage pathway doesn't go far enough, researchers say

Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unveiled a new pathway designed to offer early coverage for promising devices while investigating gaps in evidence of effectiveness and safety. In a new opinion piece, a group of researchers from the Center for the Evaluation of Value and Risk at Tufts Medical Center argues that this new pathway doesn't go far enough.

CMS should broaden the scope of the pathway to include not just devices, but also drugs, they say. They also argue that CMS should have more resources to collect real-world data on the new technologies, so that the agency can better assess their effectiveness and safety.