Because it enables both the security and sharing of data, blockchain seems ideally suited to health care. Next year, the pieces may come together for it to finally get some real traction in the sector.
The price of biologics can ruin cancer patients financially, this leading oncology expert reminds us. Biosimilars may help, but we need more of them on the market.
The FDA commissioner has an 11-step ‘action plan’ to get biosimilars out of a repeat mode of unrealized potential. But issues like interchangeability still need clarifying if biosimilars are to have a major effect on drug expenditures.
The TNF-α blocker is the world’s top-selling drug, by revenue. It faces biosimilar competition in Europe, but it will be four years before it’s challenged in the U.S.
They are ‘living’ molecules, and there is variability among lots, even in the reference products. The key issue is whether the variability has any clinical significance. So far, it hasn’t.
Insurers are busy merging with retailers and providers in vertical integration deals after attempts at horizontal combinations hit antitrust roadblocks.
Biosimilars are saving money but not in the U.S., where companies have used a variety of stalling tactics. Now Pfizer and others are accusing Johnson & Johnson of withholding rebates to fend off biosimilar competition to Remicade.
Vertical integration may make sense in the era of value-based care. But will the combinations limit patient choice–and pass antitrust muster?
Is MA a ripoff of taxpayers, a godsend for integrated, cost-effective care, or somehow both? You can’t take a stand on this question from 30,000 feet. So let us guide you through the valley of details.
BPCI Advanced signals a willingness among Medicare providers to redesign care and take on risk. Commercial payers are watching closely.
Drug manufacturers have relied on coupons to promote access to branded drugs by reducing patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Insurers and PBMs, on the other hand, have opposed coupons because they undermine the effectiveness of cost-sharing requirements and benefit designs that incentivize cost-effective drug prescribing and purchasing choices.
CMS has broadened the services that Medicare Advantage plans can provide—services that may reduce expensive treatments and injuries. Insurers continue to see the market as a business opportunity. Critics see a slow-motion privatization of Medicare.
The labor market is tight (an un-employment rate of under 4%) and the Cadillac tax is still a can kicked down the road.
