Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for standard review a new supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, as adjuvant therapy in the treatment of patients with resected, high-risk stage III melanoma and granted a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), or target action, date of February 16, 2019. Read More »

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the first-ever approval of a state plan amendment proposal to allow the state of Oklahoma to negotiate supplemental rebate agreements involving value-based purchasing arrangements with drug manufacturers that could produce extra rebates for the state if clinical outcomes are not achieved Read More »

Eisai Co., Ltd. (CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) and Purdue Pharma L.P. (President and CEO: Craig Landau, MD “Purdue Pharma”) today announced that they will present data on their investigational sleep-wake regulation agent lemborexant (development code: E2006), in an oral presentation at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Sleep Research (JSSR), July 11-13, Sapporo, Japan Read More »

Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved ARISTADA INITIO™ (aripiprazole lauroxil) for the initiation of ARISTADA® (aripiprazole lauroxil), a long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. Read More »

Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review a supplemental Biologics License Application (sBLA) for KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with carboplatin-paclitaxel or nab-paclitaxel as a first-line treatment for metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), regardless of PD-L1 expression. Read More »

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY), today announced that the Phase III IMpassion130 study met its co-primary endpoint of progression free survival (PFS). Read More »

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has recommended expanded approval of the current indications for Opdivo (nivolumab) to include the adjuvant treatment of adult patients with melanoma with involvement of lymph nodes or metastatic disease who have undergone complete resection. Read More »

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ACAD) today announced FDA approval of a new capsule dose formulation and a new tablet strength of NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) to help in the treatment of patients living with hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis. Read More »

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) today announced that the results of two open-label extension (OLE) studies of Aimovig™ (erenumab-aooe) in patients with chronic and episodic migraine, respectively, will be presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society (AHS) in San Francisco. Read More »

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) today announced that the U.S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company’s New Drug Application and granted Priority Review designation for glasdegib, an investigational oral smoothened (SMO) inhibitor, being evaluated for the treatment of adult patients with previously untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in combination with low-dose cytarabine (LDAC), a type of chemotherapy. Read More »

Recently, CVS accused the Journal (Letters, June 8) of mischaracterizing its pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) operation. Read More »

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) today announced 23 abstracts, one late-breaking poster and three oral presentations of fremanezumab for the preventive treatment of migraine which will be presented at the American Headache Society’s (AHS) 60th Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco from June 28-July 1, 2018. Read More »

Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) President and CEO Mark Merritt released the following statement on the Senate Finance Committee hearing: “Prescription Drug Affordability and Innovation: Addressing Challenges in Today’s Market: “We share the Administration’s goal of reducing drug prices.” Read More »

Pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) and global pharmaceutical company Mylan N.V. (NASDAQ: MYL) today announced that the two companies will partner to commercialize a biosimilar to Enbrel® (etanercept). Read More »

AstraZeneca and Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced positive results from the randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, Phase 3 SOLO-1 trial of LYNPARZA® (olaparib) tablets. Read More »

Biologics, Inc., a McKesson Specialty Health oncology, neurology and complex care pharmacy services company, has been selected by Array BioPharma, Inc. to be in the limited distribution network for the combination therapy BRAFTOVITM (encorafenib) and MEKTOVI®(binimetinib) for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma with a BRAFV600E or BRAFV600K mutation, as detected by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved test. Read More »

Pfizer today announced overall survival (OS) results from the Phase 3 PALOMA-3 trial, which evaluated IBRANCE® (palbociclib) in combination with fulvestrant compared to placebo plus fulvestrant in women with hormone receptor-positive (HR+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer whose disease has progressed after prior endocrine therapy. Read More »

Eli Lilly and Company's (NYSE: LLY) Humulin® R U-500 administered via an investigational insulin pump (Omnipod® U-500™ Insulin Management System) provided greater A1C reduction with less daily insulin needed compared to multiple daily injections (MDI) in adults with type 2 diabetes on high dose insulin (201-600 units/day). Read More »

CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is pleased that a report issued today that was commissioned by the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) on pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) performance for the state's Medicaid managed care plans confirms that our PBM, CVS Caremark, does not provide preferential pricing to CVS Pharmacy that would create an anti-competitive advantage over independent pharmacies. Read More »

AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV), a research-based global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for Priority Review a supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for IMBRUVICA® (ibrutinib) in combination with rituximab (RITUXAN®) as a new treatment option for Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM), a rare and incurable form of blood cancer. Read More »