Bionest

U.S. Drug Spending: Where the Money Goes

Two recently published analyses are providing a more in-depth picture of prescription drug spending in the United States. Such evaluations illustrate the complexities facing policy makers and regulators seeking to help reduce patient and payer drug costs. In addition, they point to somewhat hidden issues regarding the pricing and reimbursement of generic drugs that can...

Bionest

FDA Issues Set of Guidelines on Gene Therapy

Back in December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted its first approval for a gene therapy product, Spark Therapeutics’ Luxturna. According to the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, as many as 50 more such treatments — addressing a diverse range of health problems from genetic, autoimmune, and heart diseases, to cancer and HIV/AIDS —...

Bionest

As Brexit Approaches, Concerns about Impacts Abound

On March 29, 2019, the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union (EU). Since the UK passed the referendum in 2016 to leave the economic bloc, there have been plenty of uncertainties on how this will affect not only biopharma companies but also healthcare professionals, clinical trial personnel and more. Within the UK,...

Bionest

The Drug Pricing Blueprint — and Audience Reactions

In May of this year, the Trump White House issued its “Blueprint to Lower Drug Prices” in response to the Administration’s views that excessively high drug prices “burdening the American people” were in part caused by “foreign freeloading” and a system currently rigged “to reward list price increases.”   The policy document, which was open...