Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Novo Nordisk Says Daily Pill Version Of Wegovy Effective In Study
Novo Nordisk A/S’s weight-loss drug semaglutide, sold as the once-weekly Wegovy shot, was effective as a daily pill in a study. People with obesity or who were overweight and had another health problem lost an average of 15.1% of their body weight when assigned to take the pill, compared with a 2.4% loss in a group given a placebo, the Danish drugmaker said. Both groups also made lifestyle changes. (Kresge, 5/22)
In other pharmaceutical news —
Amazon-owned PillPack reported a cybersecurity attack affecting the accounts of nearly 20,000 customers. An unauthorized person used customer emails and passwords to log into PillPack customer accounts, over 3,000 of which contained prescription information. Social Security numbers and payment information were not involved in the attack, according to the online pharmacy. (Burky, 5/19)
In a filing to the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, Walgreens Boots Alliance is seeking to vacate an arbitration award that would have Walgreens pay $642 million to Louisville-based Humana in a case over pharmacy billings. At the same time, Humana is petitioning that the award be confirmed by the courts. Deerfield-based Walgreens' May 19 Â filing begins: "This arbitration began in betrayal and ended in a miscarriage of justice." (Asplund, 5/22)
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals plans to buy a Swiss biotech for $1 billion as the Boston drug firm seeks to strengthen its focus on treatments for gastrointestinal diseases. Ironwood, which makes the irritable bowel syndrome treatment Linzess, said Monday it will acquire VectivBio Holding AG through a $17 all-cash offer for all outstanding shares. (Saltzman, 5/22)
Regulators are poised to decide within days whether to clear a Cambridge biotech’s gene therapy for a deadly muscle-wasting disease that afflicts more than 10,000 boys and young men nationwide, even though questions remain about whether the treatment is safe and effective. (Weisman and Saltzman, 5/22)
Also —
US authorities are looking into new groups that were formed to negotiate drug discounts but may actually be further obscuring how much the medicines cost. Officials are working to pierce multiplying, opaque layers between the companies that make medicines and the people who take them. Cigna Group, CVS Health Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. have long controlled the largest pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, that traditionally negotiated rebates with drugmakers. In recent years, those companies have each launched new entities called group purchasing organizations, or GPOs, to take over that job. (Tozzi, 5/22)
