Pfizer
NEWS
Although no one really knows what President Trump will do to address high drug prices, Pfizer’s chief executive officer Ian Read said he believes it will crack down on drug rebates.
In response to the opioid crisis, particularly as the federal government cracks down on opioid use, physicians are increasingly using non-opioid therapeutics off-label in response. This has at least some physicians and one pharma company concerned.
Although Pfizer’s second-quarter financials exceeded expectations, with its adjusted earnings per share coming in at $0.81 compared to a forecast of $0.74, in its reporting there were a few changes to its pipeline.
Pfizer reported its second-quarter financials, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $0.81, exceeding the consensus forecast of $0.74, up 20.9 percent from the same period in 2017.
Takeda Pharmaceutical’s Alunbrig (brigatinib) hit its Phase III primary endpoints of statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared to crizotinib (Pfizer’s Xalkori) in a subset of lung cancer patients following the first pre-specified interim analysis.
Following a change to U.S. corporate tax laws, Pfizer announced at the beginning of this year that it intends to invest $5 billion in U.S. manufacturing over the next five years. On Tuesday, Pfizer showed its commitment to that promise with a $465 million investment in a new Michigan manufacturing site that is expected to create more than 450 jobs.
If there’s one thing that defines the tenure of FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, it is his outspoken mission to lower drug prices by introducing more competition into the biopharmaceutical market. And a big part of that mission has been doing what he can to boost the nascent biosimilar industry.
It was reported today that U.S.-based Merck & Co. will lower the price of some of its drug. It appears to be rippling through the industry, largely in an attempt to stay out of the way of Trump’s attack-tweets.
Swiss pharma giant Novartis is halting planned price increases on its medications after President Donald Trump took Pfizer to task over price hikes earlier this month. Pfizer agreed to roll back its price increases last week.
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