Hospitals are rationing cancer treatments. Pharmacies are scrambling to fill routine antibiotic prescriptions. And across the USA, patients are facing growing delays, substitutions, or outright denials of essential medicines, not because the drugs don’t exist, but because the supply chains behind them have buckled. 24 July 2025
A new report has drawn attention to the growing number of prescription drugs being excluded from commercial insurance formularies in the USA—particularly affordable generics and biosimilars—raising fresh concerns over patient access and out-of-pocket costs. 24 July 2025
The race to develop effective cancer vaccines has entered a new phase, with late-stage trials from companies like Moderna and BioNTech generating momentum and sharpening investor focus. 23 July 2025
Denmark-based allergy immunotherapy specialist ALK Abello today announced that the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended the use of the company’s tree pollen tablet Itulazax for the treatment in adults. 21 July 2025
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has cast doubt on the value of a new spinal muscular atrophy treatment from US biotech Scholar Rock, while reaffirming concerns about limited comparative data across the class of SMA therapies. 18 July 2025
The Bristol Myers Squibb-Pfizer Alliance today announced a new direct-to-patient option for purchasing Eliquis (apixaban) via their Alliance’s patient resource Eliquis 360 Support. 17 July 2025
The UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Novartis’ Kisqali (ribociclib) as an adjuvant treatment for all eligible populations of HR+/HER2- early breast cancer patients. 17 July 2025
The UK government’s new life sciences plan has been met with skepticism by the pharmaceutical industry, which says the strategy will fall flat unless there is a serious shift in the way new medicines are funded and valued. 16 July 2025
The US regulator has launched a new national initiative to help Medicaid programs fund gene therapies for sickle cell disease, under an agreement aimed at broadening access while linking payments to real-world treatment results. 16 July 2025
The USA's Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has released a Final Evidence Report assessing the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of Sanofi’s tolebrutinib for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). 15 July 2025
In the USA, the 340B hospital markup program cost state and federal taxpayers an estimated $6.5 billion per year due to lost Medicaid rebates, according to a new report from Berkeley Research Group (BRG). 15 July 2025
US biotech major Vertex Pharmaceuticals has reached a wide-ranging reimbursement deal with NHS England for Alyftrek (deutivacaftor/tezacaftor/vanzacaftor), a next-generation oral therapy for cystic fibrosis (CF), clearing the way for access to thousands of eligible patients across the country. 15 July 2025
A quiet shift with potentially big implications for cancer drug access is underway in the UK. In June, the country’s health technology assessor, NICE, recommended GSK’s Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin) in multiple myeloma. 14 July 2025
China’s vaccine landscape is shifting after local biotech Xiamen Innovax Biotech unveiled the country’s first domestically developed nine-valent HPV vaccine, Cecolin 9, at a price far below that of the incumbent Gardasil 9. The new shot is being offered at around $70 per dose—less than half the typical price of Merck & Co’s (NYSE: MRK) product in the country. 14 July 2025
South Korea’s Samsung Bioepis today published a whitepaper titled ‘Solving the Biosimilar Void in Europe’ that proposes policy recommendations to fully recognize the value of biosimilars and ensure a more sustainable market in Europe. 14 July 2025
New figures in Danish pharma trade group Lif's Medicine Reimbursement Meter show a slight increase in the number of pharmacy medicines for which companies applied for reimbursement in 2024 - and the development for 2025 is positive. 14 July 2025
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published final guidance recommending Eli Lilly’s Omvoh (mirikizumab) for use on the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales as an option for moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease in adults. 11 July 2025
BeOne Medicines - the Sino-American oncology specialist formerly known as BeiGene - has announced that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) to treat relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) after one line of treatment. 10 July 2025
Japanese authorities are putting Eisai under pressure to reconsider the price of its Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi (lecanemab), after a government-backed review found that the drug significantly exceeds accepted cost-effectiveness thresholds in the country. 10 July 2025
Chief Executive Officers of the world’s largest generic and biosimilar medicines companies recently met in Vienna, Austria, to provide strategic advice to the International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA). 29 May 2024
French pharma trade group Leem (Les Entreprises du Medicament) has published its annual survey on the taxation of the pharmaceutical industry, compared to that of other European countries. 28 May 2024
UK-based Alliance Pharma (AIM: APH) has successfully appealed against a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruling that had found the company guilty of breaching competition law. 24 May 2024
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a first-of-its-kind draft policy proposal to promote equal access to products stemming from NIH-owned inventions. 23 May 2024
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, a US biopharma specializing in rare neuroendocrine diseases, has announced that its drug Imcivree (setmelanotide) is expected to be funded and available for use in England and Wales within three months through the National Health Service (NHS) in specialist centers. 22 May 2024
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel will consider Lykos Therapeutics’ filing for midomafetamine capsules (MDMA) as a therapy-assisted treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in early June. 15 May 2024
Four-year data from the SELECT trial will significantly bolster Novo Nordisk’s bid to become the GLP-1 company of choice for payers and prescribers. 15 May 2024
A new study by diabetes awareness website Diabetes Strong reveals that “How to get Ozempic” is the most googled question about the medication. 14 May 2024
The US unit of South Korea’s Celltrion announced that adalimumab-aaty, the company's high-concentration (100 mg/mL) and citrate-free formulation biosimilar to Humira (adalimumab), is now available at a low wholesale acquisition cost (WAC). 13 May 2024
Half of pharma execs are bracing for significant revenue impact from Medicare price negotiations this year, compared to just 22% in 2023, according to research from revenue and compliance experts at Model N. 7 May 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the vulnerabilities inherent in global supply chains, particularly those predicated on single-country reliance. 2 May 2024
Trade group the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published an executive summary of its consultation response to the government's proposed changes to the Statutory Scheme for branded medicines. 1 May 2024
The USA’s Federal Trade Commission yesterday revealed it has expanded its campaign against pharmaceutical manufacturers’ improper or inaccurate listing of patents in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orange Book, disputing junk patent listings for diabetes, weight loss, asthma and COPD drugs. 1 May 2024
A new age of innovation in immunology could change medical practice and people’s lives, as long as all parts of the system learn, evolve and work together, writes Anant Murthy, General Manager, argenx EMEA, in an Expert View piece. 1 May 2024
A full cycle of production of a drug for the treatment of Fabry disease will be launched in Russia this year, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent. 30 April 2024
Interpharma, the association of research-based pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland, has called on lawmakers to reconsider a cost containment package which it says “is putting patient access at risk.” 29 April 2024
South Korean Celltrion saw its shares lifted 4% to 183,700 won today, after it announced that its US subsidiary has signed an agreement with Express Scripts. 29 April 2024
UK health technology assessor the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published its Final Draft Guidance (FDG) on a combination therapy from Swiss pharma giant Novartis. 25 April 2024