Top Stories

  • AbbVie Inc. reported revenue of $7.83 billion in the first quarter of 2019, down 1.3 percent year over year, as quarterly revenue from Humira — its top-selling treatment for rheumatoid arthritis — dropped 5.6 percent to $4.45 billion, falling for the first time in years as a result of new competition from lower-cost generics. (Financial Times)
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. posted revenue of $5.92 billion in the first quarter, with net earnings growing to $1.71 billion from $1.49 billion the same time last year. The drugmaker, on the brink of acquiring biotechnology company Celgene Corp. in a $74 billion deal, credited its earnings to high sales of Eliquis, its blockbuster blood thinner. (Reuters)
  • In a new paper, the authors of federal recommendations for the prescription of opioids for chronic pain treatment said the guidelines have been improperly implemented by the health care system, withholding pain medication from patients who need them. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescribing guidelines were intended to be applied for patients with chronic pain not tied to cancer, palliative care or end-of-life care, the authors said, but they have been erroneously affecting care for the wrong sets of patients at times. (Stat News)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

04/25/2019
12th Annual FDA/AdvaMed Medical Devices and Diagnostics Statistical Issues Conference
Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit
2019 Annual Congress of Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine
FDA Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting 8:30 am
04/26/2019
2019 Annual Congress of Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine
FDA Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting 8:30 am
Investing in Interventions that Address Non-Medical Health–Related Social Needs 8:30 am
04/27/2019
2019 Annual Congress of Enhanced Recovery and Perioperative Medicine
04/30/2019
The Wall Street Journal Health Forum
PULSE: The Atlantic Summit on Health Care
05/01/2019
Washington Examiner: Examining Healthcare 8:00 am
View full calendar

The Brands That Define American Culture and Commerce

Morning Consult analyzed over 400,000 survey interviews to determine this year’s rankings. See who made the list.

General

Most Americans want lower health care costs, not ‘Medicare for All’ or Obamacare repeal
Tami Luhby, CNN

Washington may be obsessed with enacting “Medicare for All” or repealing Obamacare, but Americans have other priorities. They want Congress to prioritize reducing health care costs and protecting those with pre-existing conditions, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday.

Health commissioner says Alaska isn’t seeking a Medicaid grant
Dermot Cole, Daily News-Miner

On March 1, Gov. Mike Dunleavy sent a letter to President Donald Trump in which he said, among other things: “Your Medicaid administrator, Seema Verma, has urged us to be the first state to receive Medicaid dollars as a block grant. We are eager to do this, but your support of her on this ‘first’ will keep the proper focus and speed on the application.”

FDA hires Pew director to lead regulatory policy
Nicholas Florko, Stat News

Elizabeth Jungman, a well-known public health expert and a Capitol Hill veteran, will lead the FDA’s regulatory policy office starting this summer, STAT has learned. Jungman, who currently serves as head of public health programs at the Pew Charitable Trusts, will direct the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Policy, a post with sweeping authority over FDA’s human drugs portfolio, two sources told STAT.

Court to hear Washington challenge to Trump abortion rule
The Associated Press

A federal judge in Washington state will hear arguments in two cases against new Trump administration rules that could cut off federal funding for health care providers who refer patients for an abortion.

HHS nearing plan to roll back transgender protections
Dan Diamond, Politico

The Trump administration is preparing to roll back protections for transgender patients while empowering health care workers to refuse care based on religious objections, according to three officials with knowledge of the pending regulations. The long-expected rules have alarmed patient advocates and public health groups, which have warned the health department that the rules could harm vulnerable populations’ access to care.

They worked in sweltering heat for Exxon, Shell and Walmart. They didn’t get paid a dime
Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter, Reveal

A nationally renowned drug rehab program in Texas and Louisiana has sent patients struggling with addiction to work for free for some of the biggest companies in America, likely in violation of federal labor law. The Cenikor Foundation has dispatched tens of thousands of patients to work without pay at more than 300 for-profit companies over the years. In the name of rehabilitation, patients have moved boxes in a sweltering warehouse for Walmart, built an oil platform for Shell and worked at an Exxon refinery along the Mississippi River.

House Dem chairmen to meet with progressives amid drug pricing divisions
Peter Sullivan, The Hill

Two key House Democratic committee chairmen will meet with progressive House Democrats next week amid divisions in the party over how to craft their signature legislation to lower drug prices, according to House Democratic aides.

More millennials, Gen Z are dying of opioid overdoses, researchers say
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CNBC

The nationwide opioid epidemic has led to a sharp increase of teens and young adults dying from drug overdoses, according to new research published Thursday. Death rates from drug overdoses for people between the ages of 15 and 24 rose by 19.75% from 2006 to 2015, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

U.S. measles cases hit highest level since eradication in 2000
Jonathan Allen, Reuters

The United States has confirmed 695 measles cases so far this year, the highest level since the country declared it had eliminated the virus in 2000, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

Stocks Mixed as Traders Digest Flood of Earnings: Markets Wrap
Eddie van der Walt, Bloomberg

U.S. equity-index futures were mixed on Thursday and European shares edged lower as investors parsed a slew of earnings against a backdrop of global growth concerns. The dollar hit a four-month high.

Payers

Association Insurance Pushes On Despite Court Ruling
Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News

When the Trump administration in June issued rules making it easier for small employers to band together to buy health insurance, “we started looking immediately,” recalled Scott Lyon, a top executive at the Small Business Association of Michigan.

CMS invites states to test new dual-eligible care models
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare

The CMS is inviting state Medicaid agencies to pursue new ways of integrating care for patients eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid—a population that has complex health needs and accounts for a big portion of spending in both public health programs.

In Pennsylvania, Two Health Care Behemoths Are Fighting. Patients Are Caught In Middle.
Steven Findlay, Kaiser Health News

Cancer survivors Evalyn Bodick, 74, and Barbara Marsic, 63, are caught in the crossfire of one of the fiercest health care fights in the country. They fear they are about to lose access to the doctors they say have kept them alive. The reason: the latest skirmish in a nearly decade-old battle between two large health systems in Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.

CVS will bring hundreds of SmileDirectClub shops to its stores, offering a cheaper way to straighten teeth
Lauren Thomas and Angelica LaVito, CNBC

CVS Health is about to make it easier to straighten your teeth. The drugstore chain will open “hundreds” of SmileDirectClub locations inside its stores this year, with plans to open more than 1,000 locations over the next two years, the company announced Thursday.

Providers

Pain Clinics’ Doctors Needlessly Tested Hundreds Of Urine Samples, Court Records Show
Fred Schulte, Kaiser Health News

A Tennessee-based chain of pain clinics that abruptly shut down last summer faces five whistleblower lawsuits accusing it of defrauding Medicare and other health insurers by billing for hundreds of unnecessary urine drug tests and other dubious health services, newly unsealed court records show.

Feds Intend to Sue Tennessee Lawmaker Over Pain Clinics
The Associated Press

Federal prosecutors said this week they intend to file a lawsuit against a Tennessee state senator and other co-owners of a now-shuttered pain clinic company. Court filings said Comprehensive Pain Specialists, which was based in Tennessee and once operated in 12 states, defrauded the government of millions of dollars by submitting claims for unnecessary procedures and falsifying documents.

Pharma, Biotech and Devices

Altria’s cannabis investment eats into first-quarter earnings, drives profit down 41%. Shares slide
Angelica LaVito, CNBC

Altria’s investment in Canadian cannabis company Cronos ate into the tobacco company’s first-quarter profits, the company said Thursday. Altria, which sells best-selling cigarette brand Marlboro in the U.S., reported first-quarter net income of $1.12 billion, or 60 cents per share, down 41% from $1.89 billion, or $1 per share a year earlier.

Gilead defied a government HIV patent. The Justice Department has opened a review.
Christopher Rowland, The Washington Post

The Department of Justice has launched a review of a government patent for use of a drug that prevents HIV infection, according to a retired Centers for Disease Control scientist who was among scientists who spoke with a department lawyer last week. Thomas Folks said a Justice Department lawyer visited the CDC in Atlanta on April 16 to question government scientists who pioneered the use of the drug Truvada for prevention.

‘Pharma bro’ Martin Shkreli moved from federal prison after claim he was running drug company with banned cellphone
Dan Mangan and Jim Forkin, CNBC

The “Pharma Bro” is back in his native Brooklyn — for now. Notorious drug-company fraudster Martin Shkreli has been removed from a federal prison in New Jersey after there were claims he was running his pharmaceuticals firm while locked up with the help of a contraband cellphone.

Majority Of Americans Say Drug Companies Should Be Held Responsible For Opioid Crisis
Brian Mann, NPR News

A new poll by NPR and Ipsos finds a third of Americans have been touched directly by the deadly opioid epidemic that still kills more than 100 people every day. “One in three have been personally affected in some way, either by knowing someone who has overdosed or by knowing someone with an opioid addiction,” said Mallory Newell, lead Ipsos researcher on the survey.

Echoes of Big Tobacco fight in Big Pharma hearings
Emily Kopp, Roll Call

Congress has made curtailing high drug prices a priority this year and has hauled in some of Big Pharma’s top executives to prove it. Committee hearings on drug prices — the House and Senate have held a half dozen this year — have sought accountability from the industry for drug prices that have forced patients into agonizing decisions about how to budget their lives and caused one-in-four diabetics to ration insulin.

A Barren Landscape for Meth Treatment
Katelyn Newman, U.S. News & World Report

As potent forms of the drug flood U.S. communities, help for users is limited.

Health IT

Humana announces virtual primary-care plan
Shelby Livingston, Modern Healthcare

Humana and telehealth company Doctor on Demand will launch a new health plan design allowing employers and employees to receive primary care predominantly through virtual visits. The plan, called On Hand, allows Humana members to avoid the doctor’s office and access primary-care services virtually from one Doctor on Demand physician, with access to urgent care, preventive care and behavioral health services.

A medical app uses your smartphone’s camera to carry out lab tests at home
Matthew Kalman, MIT Technology Review

Healthy-io’s system means patients at risk for kidney failure don’t have to visit the clinic—and has boosted the number who take the vital tests, it was announced today.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

Precision Health: A High-Tech Cure for the Spiraling Cost of Chronic Disease
Melissa Stevens, Morning Consult

President Donald Trump’s recent call for Congress to replace the Affordable Care Act with a more-effective, less-expensive alternative highlights the need for a national policy and investment road map that will lead to lower-cost preventative care for Americans.

Research Reports

US Health Services Deals Insights: Q1 2019
PwC

In Q1 2019, Health Services deal value was above the quarterly average for 2014 to 2018, driven by the Centene-WellCare megadeal. Although deal volume was on par with Q2 2017, the level remained above 200 for the 18th consecutive quarter.

Speech synthesis from neural decoding of spoken sentences
Gopala K. Anumanchipalli et al., Nature

Technology that translates neural activity into speech would be transformative for people who are unable to communicate as a result of neurological impairments. Decoding speech from neural activity is challenging because speaking requires very precise and rapid multi-dimensional control of vocal tract articulators.

Morning Consult