FTC slams PBMs for boosting specialty drug prices

Taking stock of the drug industry, from the lab to the medicine chest

January 14, 2025 Check out STAT+

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By Ed Silverman Pharmalot Columnist, Senior Writer

Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner via AP STAT+ | FTC slams PBMs for boosting specialty drug prices at the expense of the U.S. health care system The FTC noted that specialty generic drugs represent a large and growing amount of spending by plan sponsors and patients. By Ed Silverman STAT+ | NIH issues a policy to widen access to medical products that emerge from government-funded research In explaining its move, the NIH acknowledged that "all too often, patients across the globe may be unable to access products they need." By Ed Silverman STAT+ | Former Trump FDA, CMS heads lay out how his return could reshape health policy At a STAT event, Scott Gottlieb and Seema Verma discussed how the administration could affect everything from vaccines to Medicare Advantage. By Jonathan Wosen STAT STAT+ | Defiant, Pfizer CEO talks about Trump, obesity drugs, and the 'Pfizer machine' At the JPM conference, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla projected optimism, saying the market was overlooking the pharma company's obesity and oncology drugs By Matthew Herper STAT+ | Former Trump White House, HHS aide Abe Sutton likely to lead Medicare, Medicaid innovation center Abe Sutton, a health policy aide in the first Trump administration, is likely to be named head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation at CMS. By Rachel Cohrs Zhang STAT+ | Opinion: Tariffs on medical items should be reinvested in the health care supply chain Tariffs are intended to spur American ingenuity and promote domestic production, so the funds collected should be leveraged to do exactly that. By Soumi Saha and Mark Hendrickson

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