Study: Two prostate cancer drugs delay metastasis of disease by two years. Made by Janssen Pharmaceuticals of Johnson & Johnson and a partnership of Pfizer and Astellas Pharma, respectively, both drugs are androgen receptor inhibitors. (New York Times)
The five-hour government shutdown came to an end early Friday morning after the House of Representatives and Senate passed a two-year budget deal. The bill extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program by four years. It also provides money to fight the opioid crisis and funding for community health centers. (CNBC)
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has outlined President Donald Trump’s plans for lowering drug prices. They include ensuring that those on Medicare take advantage of drug discounts negotiated by pharmacy benefit managers, creating a ceiling for out-of-pocket prescription costs, and making generic drugs free for low-income seniors. Azar said these policy ideas will appear in the president’s budget proposal, set for release on Monday (Bloomberg)
The FDA has delayed approval of Novartis’ generic copy of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair lung drug. The decision followed similar delays by the agency of Advair copies from Mylan and Hikma, although such generics are available in Europe. Advair has generated more than $1 billion in sales a year for GSK since 2001. (Reuters)
AbbVie has released part two of its Humira commercials that drew a mixed reaction from patients. The first ads in the series, which showed adults missing out on important moments, were found to be unnecessarily cruel by some viewers. AbbVie has spent an estimated $15.3 million this year running the ads on national TV. (MM&M)
