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1. The Senate Special Committee on Aging said Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Turing Pharmaceuticals, Retrophin, and Rodelis Therapeutics act more like hedge funds than pharmaceutical companies. Sens. Susan Collins (R-MI) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) wrote the government should be allowed to import drugs from other countries and set a 150-day deadline for the FDA to review certain generic drug applications to create more competition. (Bloomberg)
2. ViiV Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline’s HIV specialist business, will begin studying cabotegravir for the prevention of HIV, compared to Gilead Sciences’ HIV drug Truvada, which is marketed as a pre-exposure prophylaxis drug.
3. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Al Franken (D-MN) asked President-elect Trump to help lawmakers bring down prescription drug prices. The letter was cosigned by 18 other senators. (Letter)
4. Republican lawmakers said the Affordable Care Act, which they have vowed to repeal, will be replaced with “universal access” to healthcare and coverage, but not ensure that everyone will have insurance. An unnamed House aide told The New York Times that “our goal here is to make sure that everybody can buy coverage or find coverage if they choose to.” (NYT)
5. The director of Cleveland Clinic’s leukemia program wrote in an op-ed that eligibility criteria for cancer drugs’ clinical trials are often too rigid, and that leads to only a small percentage of adult cancer patients participating in them. (The Hill)
