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Eli Lilly and Co. said on Tuesday it plans to seek U.S. approval for its experimental Alzheimer's disease drug by year end and believes the treatment could be favored by doctors once it becomes available to patients. Eli Lilly shares were up 4%. A landmark U.S. approval of Biogen Inc.'s Alzheimer's drug in June has boosted the chances for other medicines that clear plaques from the brain. (Mishra and O'donnell, 8/3)

The pricing of prescription drugs — which account for the largest share of health insurance premiums — has sometimes been compared to a “black box” that leaves consumers and other payers in the dark. North Dakota is one of a growing list of states, including Minnesota, that are taking steps to pry open that black box so the public has more information about the factors that drive prescription drug prices. (Springer, 7/30)

Drug prices overall are not expected to increase meaningfully in 2022, although the number of specialty medications and drugs without biosimilar competition are projected to grow, according to Vizient, a group purchasing organization. For the most part, costs will stay in line with the pharmaceutical industry's downward inflation trend. Vizient's latest Pharmacy Market Outlook—which forecasts what its hospitals and health systems might pay for drugs after discounts and rebates between in 2022—predicts that pharmaceutical costs will increase by 3.1%. (Devereax, 7/30)

Rep. Scott Peters, a low-profile California Democrat now serving his fifth term in the House, two years ago supported a landmark bill that would have substantially lowered the cost of life-saving drugs for Americans. Now he's the apparent leader of a group of centrist Democrats who oppose that very same bill, and who have collectively received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry.  Peters' apparent flipflop, reported by Stat last week, centers on H.R. 3, a Democratic House bill that would save American consumers billions of dollars on costly drugs for life-altering diseases like cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. (Skolnik, 7/29)