GlaxoSmithKline CEO On Why Drugs Cost So Much

Sir Andrew Witty, the CEO of Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the sixth largest pharmaceutical company in the world, discusses the current period of ‘extreme challenge’ in the industry and acknowledges the disconnect between the global push for affordable healthcare and the current cost of needed medications. Specifically, he points to the U.S.’s lack of transparency requirements as a major driver for the issues that our country is facing today – an inability to determine the actual price of a drug makes it impossible to determine a realistic cost-benefit analysis for the system. Ultimately, he suggests, the system needs to balance cost, value and innovation to ensure shareholders remain invested and patients have access to the drugs they need.

Hear the podcast on it here.

New 'Scarier' Zika Warnings in the U.S.

The CDC recently released a broader range of Zika-related complications beyond microcephaly, including stillbirth, placenta damage, prematurity, etc., as well as potential links to additional non-pregnancy conditions. In this comprehensive discussion about the existing and anticipated impact of the virus, experts explain the developing understanding of transmission, effects and prevention. Although there is evidence that the disease is not in the continental US (beyond those that traveled to infected countries), experts estimate the range of the carrier mosquito to include parts of at least 30 states – with an additional potential carrier type extending as far north as Minnesota. Combined with the difficult of containment, due to the uniqueness of the mosquito (including breeding, biting habits, etc.), experts suspect that an outbreak in the United States would be the “public health version of [Hurricane] Katrina.”

Listen to the podcast about it from On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

Podcast: "How Wall Street Reacts When a Patient Dies in a Clinical Trial"

Summary

There exists an important link between scientifically proving a drug’s efficacy and safety and maintaining the confidence of investors who fund the clinical trials; one without the other likely means the drug will fail. When the drug company Zafgen entered the third stage of clinical trials for their drug, Beloranib (originally used to treat cancer, then tested for weight loss efficacy and, ultimately, the treatment of the rare Prader-Willi Syndrome which causes insatiable hunger in children), the death of two patients lead to investors pulling out and stock prices plummeting from $35/share to $7. Despite proof that both deaths were caused by a common condition to Prader-Willi patients not receiving treatment, investor confidence appears to be shaken and share prices have not returned to their original value. For small drug companies, like Zafgen, who do not have multiple high-dollar revenue streams or alternative, ongoing research opportunities, the results of a patient death (including long-term holds placed on future trials and subsequent loss of investor support) often mean the end of the business and the drugs for which patients throughout the country have been waiting.

Link to Podcast: https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/04/podcast-clinical-trial-death/

This Drug is Defying a Rare Form of Leukemia - And it Keeps Getting Pricier

Novartis introduced a breakthrough leukemia medication, Gleevec, 15 years ago with a list price of over $26,000 for a year; today, despite common market standards that expect competition to lead to price reduction, a year of Gleevec costs over $120,000. Unlike drugs sparking outrage with sudden, unexplained price increases, Novartis chose to gradually increase the cost of Gleevec on a year-over-year basis, oftentimes with the release of competitors to the market. The rarity of the form of leukemia treated by Gleevec was, according to Novartis, a partial explanation for the high cost; if more patients took the drug, they would be able to lower the cost and still recoup expenses. Today, Gleevec’s effectiveness has increased the population of individuals living with the cancer by 300% but Novartis’ original pricing explanation remains unseen. Novartis’ run with Gleevec has likely come to an end, though, as the drug lost patent protection last month.

Read the Washington Posts article about it here.

A Recent White House Budget Proposal Would Require More Transparency From Drug Makers

The White House budget proposal, released earlier this month, includes a requirement for pharmaceutical companies to disclose various business measures, including the cost of research and development; a requirement that would either prove or lay to rest to pharma’s continued argument that drug prices are directly related to their R&D costs. The measures mimic those proposed by states across the country and received similar backlash from industry lobbyists – including assertions that the requirement would stifle innovation, ignores R&D failures, and requires the disclosure of confidential information. That final argument is likely countered by an existing statute in the Affordable Care Act.

Read the coverage from Pharmalot's Ed Silverman here.

Study Finds that Some Drugs Approved for Other Uses Have Antibiotic Actions

As bacterial infections are becoming increasingly resistant to existing antibiotics, the University of Illinois has released promising research regarding the dual use of multiple drugs, including those used to treat parasitic infections and cancers. In fighting their intended diseases, many FDA-approved drugs also kill bacteria, work as uncouplers to destroy bacterial energy production and, in some cases, inhibit enzyme production and disrupt the cell membrane. Testing has primarily focused on the treatment of tuberculosis and staph infections. The researchers are also investigating tweaking the biology of certain drugs that are metabolized within the cell (eg. Heartburn drugs) to create an added level of uncoupling and, ultimately, cell death of bacteria.

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