“Cigna gets major boost from Express Scripts in Q2,” Robert King, FierceHealthcare, August 1, 2019
And some claim PBMs do not matter in the cost of healthcare? Cigna healthcare insurance generated ~ $38 billion in revenue the second quarter 2019 and a major increase due mostly to a merger with pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) Express Scripts.
According to company financial results released Thursday, Cigna’s pharmacy services business generated $23.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter which represents a massive increase compared to the $1.1 billion generated in the second quarter of 2018. The company reported $1.41 billion in net income.
The major reason for the spike is the gain from the membership and resources achieved from the deal for Express Scripts. Cigna completed the $67 billion merger with the PBM giant late last year.
“More Plant-Based Protein in Diet May Add Years,” Nicole Lou, MedPageToday, August 27, 2019
“Significant reductions were found (specifically) in mortalities related to cardiovascular disease. Norie Sawada, MD, PhD, of Japan’s National Cancer Center in Tokyo reported and colleagues reported a positive result in a prospective cohort study of plant protein being substituted for meat protein. It was reported in recent JAMA Internal Medicine study, “Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality.”
The JAMA study (Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality) suggests diets with higher plant-based protein intake may contribute to long-term health and longevity. In this cohort study; 70,696 Japanese adults were followed up on for a mean period of 18 years. The outcome associated a higher intake of plant protein resulted in lower total mortality. Moreover, the substitution of plant protein for animal protein, mainly for red or processed meat protein, was associated with lower risk of total, cancer-related, and cardiovascular disease–related mortality.
Furthermore, switching out 3% of daily calories from red meat to plant protein — approximately 260 g of a soy-based food for the average person eating 2,000 calories per day — was linked in statistical models (not through analysis of individuals who actually changed their diets) to reductions in mortality risk.
It is no secret retail drives the meat processing market where large manufacturers and meat packers are big enough to control the market and can drive the pricing down or up per each of cattle. Smaller cattle producers can be driven out of the market as they do not have the massive volume ability to lower their costs of production past a certain point. The criticisms of the plant based protein study I have read are similar to the criticism I have read limiting opioid prescriptions in which they advocate do not limit opioid at all. We could all do with less red meat in our diets which still remains a reality.
The $6 Million Drug Claim, Katie Thomas and Reed Abelson, NYT, August 25, 2019
The link should take you to a different site other than the NYT where you can read the article.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals manufactures Strensiq a drug used to treat a rare bone disease perinatal/infantile and juvenile – onset hypophosphatasia. Adult Dawn Patterson also suffers from the same disease, the excruciating pain from it, which leaves her struggling to work or care for her family. It is a rare disease found more often in children and even rarer in adults.
Dawns husband’s union covers the cost of the drug. The union is suffering sticker shock from the mounting bills for treatments of her and her two of her children who also have the disease. In 2018, the union faced a potential $6 million bill for the Patterson household with an estimated a lifetime cost of $60 million to treat the family over 10 years.
The cost of Strensig as well as other drugs is coming under increased scrutiny and debate over whether any drug should cost $millions of dollars after cost of R&D and start up are recovered. Americans are being priced out of lifesaving treatments as drug companies maximize their profits well beyond start up costs. It has been found, the investment of $1 invested in R&D has provided $14.50 in revenue for cancer drugs (World Health Organization).
As I reported in “Cigna gets major boost from Express Scripts in Q2” (above), Pharmacy Benefit Managers are taking a hefty cut in the process in representing insurance companies with manufacturers. In an earlier post “Can you Patent the Sun,” I had talked more on the topic of costs and company reasoning to set higher prices. Manufacturers are pricing new and older drugs higher and establishing a pseudo morality to maximize their profits.
The US is more vulnerable than is European countries only because Europe sets pricing rather than allow the market to do so.
Opioid Maker Turned Blind Eye to Diversion, Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, August 28, 2019
In newly unsealed documents, Mallinckrodt employees were worried the existing programs to prevent opioid diversion were not working. One former employee testified about Mallinckrodt not having a computerized system from 2008 to 2009 for tracking unusual orders. Employees had to use their judgment to identify suspicious sales. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents met with Mallinckrodt PLC and informed the company the agency viewed it “as the kingpin within the prescription drug cartel.”
Superior Court for the State of Alaska Third Judicial District in Anchorage, State of Alaska, Plaintiff vs. Mallinckrodt PLC, Mallinckrodt LLC, and SPECGX LLC.
“In reality, however Mallinckrodt shipped opioids into Alaska without an adequate system in place to prevent diversion of its opioids and to investigate, report, and refuse to fill orders that it knew or should have known were suspicious, breaching both its common law duties and its statutory duties under Alaska law. Despite its legal and ethical duty to report “suspicious orders” of its drugs, and, upon information and belief, ample red flags of potential diversion, Mallinckrodt has never once reported a single prescriber to state law enforcement or the Alaska State Medical Board. Instead, Mallinckrodt incentivized distributors to flood the State with opioids beyond even what the expanded market for chronic pain market could bear.”
Mallinckrodt Was Required to and Failed to Maintain Effective Controls Against Diversion and to Report Suspicious Prescribers. , Page 35, B
There are multiple state lawsuits being filed federal courts nationwide claiming pharmaceutical companies misled people as to the safety of opioid usage.
Opioid settlement would divide money based on local impact, Geoff Mulvihill and Andrew Welsh-Huggins, AP, August 30, 2019
Purdue the maker of OxyContin is negotiating a multi-billion-dollar settlement to resolve a crush of lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis. The settlement contains formulas for dividing up the money amongst state and local governments across the country.
The formulas would take into account several factors; opioid distribution in a given jurisdiction, the number of people who misuse opioids, and the number of overdose deaths.
Spelling out the way the settlement is to be split is meant to prevent squabbles over the money avoiding the mistakes experienced with the hundreds of billions of dollars received under the nationwide settlement with Big Tobacco during the 1990s.
September 8; States Attorneys and Purdue have reached an impasse and it is expected Purdue will now file for bankruptcy. It is not clear what the breakdown is over. One of the four states attorneys negotiating with Purdue, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro said Saturday he intends to sue the Sackler family as other states have.
“I think they are a group of sanctimonious billionaires who lied and cheated so they could make a handsome profit. I truly believe that they have blood on their hands.”
