About health insurance/insurers
Healthcare billing fraud: 11 recent cases As usual, they largely involve Medicare and/or Medicaid.
About pharma
Five-Year Sales for Newly Marketed Prescription Drugs With and Without Initial Orphan Drug Act Designation “In this study, drugs initially approved for an orphan-designated condition were just as lucrative for their manufacturers as drugs developed for more common conditions. In 6 cases, indications for orphan-designated drugs were expanded to nonorphan indications within 5 years; in such cases, drug manufacturers benefit from Orphan Drug Act incentives and can extend to all uses the high prices set for the first indication. The study was limited to drugs made by public companies, excluded sales in non-US markets, and lacked data on sales volume.
Manufacturers offset smaller volumes of orphan drugs with higher prices; from 2008 to 2018, launch prices for orphan-designated drugs were 7 times higher than prices for nonorphan drugs.3 Congress could reform the statutory incentives in the Orphan Drug Act, such as by requiring manufacturers to repay tax credits when orphan-designated products are commercial successes.”
Gilead Sciences prevails in US government lawsuit over HIV drug patents “A federal jury on Tuesday found that Gilead Sciences Inc did not infringe U.S. patents with its HIV-prevention regimens using the drugs Truvada and Descovy, handing the government a defeat in its billion-dollar lawsuit.
The Delaware jury found the government's patents were invalid and not infringed following a five-day trial and a morning of deliberations.
The federal government had argued that Gilead failed to compensate the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for discovering that its drug Truvada, which was first approved to treat HIV, could also help prevent infection by the virus.”
About the public’s health
Draft Recommendation Statement- Breast Cancer: Screening “The USPSTF recommends biennial screening mammography for women ages 40 to 74 years.”
About health technology
Mighty Mice to the Rescue: How Mice in Microgravity Help Patients With Muscle and Bone Loss on Earth No comment…just read this decimating article.l;