- Center on Health Equity & Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
What We're Reading: Ad Spending for Drugs on the Rise
What we're reading, March 10, 2016: spending on drug advertisements up 60% over 4 years; lawsuit between Gilead and Merck over hepatitis C virus drugs; and Tennessee considers allowing pharmacists to prescribe contraceptives.
Despite lawmakers pushing for tighter restrictions on drug advertisements, drug makers are pouring more money into TV and print campaigns. STAT reported that ad spending increased 60% in the last 4 years and 9 prescription drugs are expected to spend more than $100 million for ad time. Humira, Lyrica, Eliquis, Cialis, and Xeljanz were responsible for the most ad spend last year.
A lawsuit between Gilead Sciences and Merck & Co will kick off this week regarding patent claims on Gilead’s hepatitis C virus drugs. Merck wants a cut of Gilead’s sales of Sovaldi and Harvoni because the active ingredient, sofosbuvir, infringes 2 of Merck’s patents, reported The Wall Street Journal. Gilead is seeking a judgement that Merck’s patents are invalid. Gilead is also having trouble with AbbVie, which also claims Gilead’s drugs infringe patents covering various drug combinations.
Tennessee could become the next state to allow women to obtain contraceptives from a pharmacist. The bill, which would allow pharmacists who enter an agreement with a physician and meets certain provisions to prescribe birth control, passed the state Senate, reported USA Today. Since the pharmacist would still need to write a prescription, health insurance would cover the cost. This Tennessee bill follows similar ones passed in Oregon and California.
New Research Challenges Assumptions About Hospital-Physician Integration, Medicare Patient Mix
April 22nd 2025On this episode of Managed Care Cast, Brady Post, PhD, lead author of a study published in the April 2025 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, challenges the claim that hospital-employed physicians serve a more complex patient mix.
Listen
Higher Weight-Adjusted Waist Index Tied to Greater Mortality Risk in Patients With Osteoarthritis
April 23rd 2025Researchers consider the weight-adjusted waist index a more precise predictor of mortality risk in patients with osteoarthritis than traditional obesity measures, like body mass index.
Read More
Personalized Care Key as Tirzepatide Use Expands Rapidly
April 15th 2025Using commercial insurance claims data and the US launch of tirzepatide as their dividing point, John Ostrominski, MD, Harvard Medical School, and his team studied trends in the use of both glucose-lowering and weight-lowering medications, comparing outcomes between adults with and without type 2 diabetes.
Listen
