Arthur Allen - KFF Health News

A woman ended up stranded in the hospital because CVS stopped providing the IV nutrition she needs to survive at home. Without it, she’d starve.

The Big Three pharmacy benefit managers say they return nearly all the rebates they get from drugmakers to the employers and insurers who hire them. But most employers seem to doubt that.

Although public health officials recommend the newly approved COVID vaccine for everyone age 6 months and older, it may make more sense to wait until closer to the holiday season.

As Congress pushes for Medicare to cover payment for anti-obesity drugs, Denmark — home of Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk — has limited coverage of the drug after cost overruns “emptied all the money boxes in the entire public health system.”

The spread of an avian flu virus in cattle has again brought public health attention to the potential for a global pandemic. Fighting it would depend, for now, on 1940s technology that makes vaccines from hens’ eggs.

The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of sotorasib worked as well as the amount on the label. It did, but the biotech is sticking to the higher dose, which earns it an extra $180,000 a year per patient.

A restructuring of the Medicare drug benefit has wiped out big drug bills for people who need expensive medicines. But the legal battle over drug negotiations means uncertainty over long-term savings.

A rule taking effect Jan. 1 was intended to stop one set of abuses by pharmacy benefit managers, but some pharmacists say it’s enabling these price brokers to simply do new things unfairly.

Thousands of patients with autoimmune diseases who rely on Humira, with a list price of $6,600 a month, could get financial relief from new low-cost rivals. So far, the pharmacy benefit managers that control drug prices have not delivered on those savings.

Chances are, if you aren’t older, chronically ill, or obese, you don’t need a forthcoming COVID vaccine to stay out of the hospital. But it probably wouldn’t hurt.