Pfizer’s CEO said drug rebates will soon disappear. Rebates, the discounts drugmakers give to PBMs to get better placement on drug formularies, have also been a focus of the Trump administration’s drug pricing plan. Pharma companies are placing the pricing blame on PBMs. (STAT)
Market research and consulting firm Ispos is set to acquire four divisions of GfK Research. Ispos will take over the health, customer experience, innovation, and public affairs divisions, adding more than 1,000 employees to its staff. The deal costs about $122 million. (Ipsos)
Sanofi expects to return to growth in the second half of 2018. After a rocky first half that saw sales slump and little growth in several of its business units, the company is banking on its immunology and rare blood disorder franchises for growth in the rest of this year. Only two of its units grew in Q2, consumer health and rare diseases. (BioPharma Dive)
The White House is allowing insurers to sell cheap, short-term health plans to compete with Affordable Care Act plans. The plans will be exempt from many ACA provisions, like free preventive and pregnancy care, making them cheaper for the insurer. The short-term plans can be renewed up to 36 months. Insurers can begin selling these in October, around the time of ACA enrollment. (CNBC)
