It’s time for PBM executives to be grilled by lawmakers. Executives from five pharmacy benefit managers widely decried as “middlemen” are set to appear on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. (STAT) Keep an eye on MM&M’s website and Twitter account, as well as the handle of executive editor Marc Iskowitz, for the latest from Washington, DC.
Eleven Democratic senators are planning to investigate Juul’s marketing practices. The lawmakers, including presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), said they will look into whether the company violated commitments to the FDA, as well as its sale of a 35% stake in the company to Altria. (CNBC)
The FDA okayed GlaxoSmithKline’s two-drug treatment for HIV infections. The combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine, branded as Dovato, has been approved for treating newly diagnosed adults. (Reuters)
Manufacturers are struggling to counter the copay accumulator programs implemented by health plans. Some drugmakers are giving patients debit cards, which are more difficult to track than pharmacy coupons and other methods. (AISHealth)
An experimental cancer “vaccine” has delivered promising results in a clinical trial of lymphoma patients. Some patients in a trial of 11 at New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital went into full remission for months, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine. (CNBC)
