Battles Over Drug Pricing
Lots of talk about the prices of drugs. Express Scrips got a lot of attention for saying it will continue to push back on the price of drugs particularly around cancer and high cholesterol. Two companies ready to face the fallout: Regeneron and Amgen.
Eli Lilly, meanwhile, said insurers are also getting into the act – particularly around the diabetes business. “It’s not just Express Scripts,” said Enrique Conterno, senior vice president of Lilly’s diabetes unit, according to Bloomberg. “We see more payers narrowing their formularies.”
The AI-Native Clinician Is Already Here. Medical Education and Health Systems Need to Catch Up.
Medical students, residents, and fellows are not waiting for formal guidance on artificial intelligence before putting it to use.
J&J’s Microbiome Efforts Get a Look
J&J’s deal with Vedanta got insightful writeups in Fierce and Xconomy. A nice win, by the way, for PureTech Ventures.
Pfizer’s Cholesterol Strategy Gets Attention
Why Pharma Companies Should Look To Social Media For Better Patient Insight
Healthcare decision-makers, especially at pharmaceutical companies, must prioritize patient input. Data collected from social media listening is a significant step in the right direction.
Pfizer Inc, one of several drugmakers racing to commercialize a new class of cholesterol-lowering injections, is also developing an oral pill and vaccine that target the “bad” cholesterol protein, PCSK9, according to Mikael Dolsten, the company’s research and development chief.
Pfizer expects to begin a trial in humans this year of a small molecule pill designed to target the PCSK9 protein that maintains “bad” LDL cholesterol in the bloodstream, Dolsten said in an interview during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco.
A Divisive Rivalry Emerges Again
Cute. #jpm15 pic.twitter.com/2nzNwd2WNl
— Chris Seper (@chrisseper) January 14, 2015
Via the Feinstein Kean Healthcare cocktail reception.
Phraseology That Makes Us Groan or Grin
- 2015 the Year of Digital Transformation
- 2015 JP Morgan term of the week? “Align”
- Could it be a big year for biotech? Well… “There has to be digestion.”
- It’s not Big Pharma it’s “growth pharma”
Bruce Booth claims he’s batting .500, by the way.
Other JP Morgan headlines from Day 2
- AMRI looks to replace Allegra royalty revenue with contract revenue
- Roche inks a $750M antibiotics deal as it re-embraces the field
- M.D. Anderson to earn $100 million for immunotherapy ‘game-changer’
- Startups pitch fast and furious at Biotech Showcase
- JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Day Two: Thermo Fisher Scientific, Affymetrix, Danaher, Hologic, Genmark, Accelerate Diagnostics
Twitterverse
Suits basking in the sun. #JPM15 pic.twitter.com/EyktaDasAD — Christopher Khoury (@khourychris) January 13, 2015
I have seen several fairly preg women at #JPM15. Give them a seat. Or at a minimum, don’t shove them in the hallway.
— Lisa Jarvis (@lisamjarvis) January 13, 2015
Elevator chat with Bob Hugin: “The whole industry is on fire.” Characteristic of the general feeling at #JPM15 @Celgene — John Carroll (@JohnCFierce) January 14, 2015
Biotech exec’s wife after he explains #jpm15 craziness: “So it’s like sorority rush for nerds.”
— Ron Leuty (@rleuty_biotech) January 14, 2015
Photo from Flickr user Wally Gobetz