About Covid-19
Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 Vaccination Updated today. One item of particular interest: “CDC recommends 1 updated booster dose at this time. FDA has not authorized receiving more than 1 updated booster.”
About health insurance/insurers
Dreaded Medical Paperwork Required by Health Insurers to Be Trimmed “UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurer in the U.S., said Wednesday it would cut its use of the prior authorization process. Starting in the third quarter, it will remove many procedures and medical devices from its list of services requiring the signoff.
The insurer also said it would eliminate, starting next year, many prior-authorization requirements for so-called gold-card doctors and hospitals whose requests it nearly always approves. And it aims to automate and speed up prior authorization, though that will likely take a few years…
Cigna Group, another large insurer, said it was reducing prior authorization, including removing the requirement for about 500 services and devices since 2020…
Meantime, CVS Health Corp.’s Aetna health insurance arm said it was working to automate and simplify prior authorization.”
About pharma
Amazon Pharmacy integrates coupons in latest bid to target affordability of branded drugs “Amazon rolled out a new feature to automatically apply drug manufacturer-sponsored coupons directly when consumers order brand-name medications through the online pharmacy.
Amazon Pharmacy is working with GSK, Kaléo, Novo Nordisk and Dexcom to integrate coupons for their branded medications—including Trelegy, AUVI-Q, Wegovy and G6/G7 sensors and transmitters, respectively—directly into the checkout experience on its website and app.”
About the public’s health
Drug overdose antidote Narcan goes over-the-counter “Narcan, the lifesaving nasal spray that reverses opioid overdoses, has been approved for purchase without a prescription, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Wednesday.”
Biden administration warns of $35 billion shortfall for health emergency stockpile “The nation's efforts to develop and stockpile key medicines for guarding against public health threats are underfunded by some $35 billion, the Biden administration warned Congress on Monday, forcing officials to make risky trade-offs that could leave the U.S. unprepared for the next emergency.
Over the next five years, the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that the U.S. will need $64 billion overall to fund the work of an array of agencies tasked with "medical countermeasures" for threats ranging from COVID-19 to nuclear attacks.”
About health technology
Global Trends in R&D 2023 “Key findings:
The past year saw a restoration of pre-pandemic investment flows to life sciences companies in the U.S. after two years of heightened levels during the pandemic.
The research and development pipeline remained flat in 2022 with ongoing oncology focus and continued share gain in rare, next-generation, Chinese and EBP segments of the pipeline.
Clinical trial activity was remarkably resilient even as the pandemic stretched through 2022, with a 1% decline in non-COVID trial activity over 2021, but a restoration of pre-pandemic growth rates with an 8% increase over 2019.
A growing share of new launches in 2022 were first-in-class, reflecting the increasing availability of novel science for patients.
Clinical development productivity — a composite metric of success rates, clinical trial complexity and trial duration — rebounded in 2022, reversing a 10-year downward trend. Trial complexity returned to the previous trend after an outlier high in 2021, while overall success rates improved slightly.
As technology and data advances take hold across the pharmaceutical development pipeline, productivity is being impacted by a range of trade-off effects on complexity, timing, and probability of success.”