The US Patent and Trademark Office has extended the life of Pfizer’s Celebrex patent through December 2, 2015, reported Dow Jones. The agency gave the drug an additional 18 months of patent life by overturning a 2008 federal appeals court finding that rendered the patent invalid. Dow Jones reported that analysts had forecast a sales drop of $1.85 billion after the drug’s initial patent expiration date of May 30, 2014 kicked in.
A recent survey by SurveyHealthCare indicated that 40% of doctors could not describe an Accountable Care Organization. The survey defined an ACO as an organization of HCPs that “agrees to be accountable for the quality, cost, and overall care of patients who are assigned to it”. The Affordable Care Act provides incentives to ACO’s when they save money, but still provide quality treatment. Of the 508 physician respondents, 60% said they could describe an ACO, 17% already work for an ACO, more than half say they have influence in purchasing decisions, 13% have a “specific title” which is associated with that purchasing power and 50% have positive feelings about ACOs while the other 50% responded negatively.
