Drug Delivery

FEATURED STORIES
Currently, Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound (tirzepatide) are not on the FDA’s shortage list but compounded pharmacies are still making them. That’s unprecedented.
Novo Holdings’ acquisition of Catalent has ignited concerns from industry stakeholders, who fear that the consolidation could limit competition, but there is also the possibility that the deal could represent an opportunity for smaller-scale CDMOs to find new partners.
Digitization enables each drug to have a software-enhanced version optimized for individual patients.
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Bristol Myers Squibb clocked $10 million in sales for new schizophrenia drug Cobenfy in the fourth quarter of 2024, with the launch proceeding ahead of expectations.
Wegovy sales increased by more than 100% over 2024. But that wasn’t enough to satiate analysts who want to know why Novo Nordisk can’t access more patients, particularly in the U.S.
IRA
While the former Biden administration showcased the Inflation Reduction Act as a key victory in the fight over high drug prices in the U.S., Trump has so far been mum on how the controversial law could evolve in the coming years.
IRA
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has named Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus as part of the second round of the IRA drug price negotiation program, even as the pharma challenges the program.
The deal follows a $1.06 billion U.S. contract in July 2024 and a $1.24 billion agreement with an Asia-based pharma a few months later.
Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
Drugmakers will have until the end of February to decide whether they want to participate in the second round of Medicare negotiations or not. CMS has until June 1 to send an initial offer for the adjusted prices.
Boehringer Ingelheim’s trio of late-stage schizophrenia failures on Thursday came a day after the Department of Health and Human Services hit back on the pharma’s legal challenge to the IRA’s drug price negotiation program.
Concurrently, a preprint from the industry-backed Vital Transformation found a 50% drop in company investments into small-molecule drug development.
According to BMO Capital Markets, Medicare coverage of Lilly’s Zepbound opens the door to using secondary indications to secure CMS coverage for obesity drugs.