H.R. 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, was signed into law by President Obama on November 2, 2015. The two-year budget framework, which raises the federal debt limit through March 2017, partially rolls back the Budget...more
Court says Congress has the power to make the change that HHS attempted with its Interpretive Rule, and thus it should be left to the legislative branch. A lawsuit challenging the Interpretive Rule, filed by the...more
10/26/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Discounts ,
Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Interpretive Rule ,
Orphan Drugs ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
PHRMA ,
PHSA ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Public Health Service Act ,
Section 340B
On September 8, 2015, the House of Representatives passed a bill intended to combat prescription drug abuse through the reauthorization of a program that provides federal grants to states for prescription drug monitoring...more
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently issued a pre-publication Proposed Rule (40 C.F.R. part 266, subpart P) regulating the management and disposal of drugs deemed “hazardous waste pharmaceuticals” by healthcare...more
A handful of recent court decisions, including one issued just last month, seems to have potentially cracked open the door for pharmaceutical manufacturers to have more leeway to promote off-label uses of their products....more
On August 27, 2015, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), released the 340B Drug Pricing Program Omnibus Guidance (Guidance). Referred to...more
9/11/2015
/ AIDS ,
Audits ,
Compliance ,
Covered Entities ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Drug Pricing ,
Fee-for-Service ,
FQHC ,
GPOs ,
Healthcare ,
HRSA ,
Managed Care Contracts ,
MCOs ,
Medicaid ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Section 340B
Drugmaker Amarin Pharma, Inc. (Amarin), recently received a victory in its fight against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On August 7, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that...more
In the wake of the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) recently announced warning against giving codeine to children under 12 years old, the FDA announced its own safety investigation of the drug for use in children. The FDA’s...more
The trade coalition representing pharmacy benefit managers is raising concerns about major bipartisan legislation aimed at streamlining the approval of new medicines and medical devices. However, the Pharmaceutical Care...more
6/22/2015
/ 21st Century Cures Initiative ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pharmacies ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Trade Associations
The advisory committee tasked with providing advice on medical, scientific and technical issues to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on compounded drugs is slated to continue its examination of matters concerning access...more
On April 30, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) made available a dataset that provides detailed information on medications that physicians and other healthcare providers prescribed under the Medicare...more
In a court decision holding that a compounding pharmacy is entitled to certain protections against medical malpractice claims, the Supreme Court of Texas established a precedent that may well prove valuable to pharmacists...more
On March 6, 2015, FDA released a statement announcing its issuance of the first biosimilar license to Zarxio. In the same month, CMS issued a number of guidance documents addressing reimbursement for biosimilars under the...more
4/23/2015
/ Biosimilars ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part B ,
Medicare Part D ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drug Coverage ,
Prescription Drugs
The agency that oversees the 340B Drug Discount Program (340B program) is seeking review by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of a proposed rule that would use civil monetary penalties to enforce ceiling...more
Included in the flurry of guidance documents recently issued by the FDA concerning human drug compounding is a long-awaited document of great importance to mail-order pharmacy compounders and entities that rely on interstate...more
Almost a year and a half after adoption of the Drug Quality and Security Act (DQSA) in November 2013, which revised federal oversight of drug compounding, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to roll out guidance...more
In response to a decision to deny coverage of approximately 1,000 active ingredients that are widely used by compounding pharmacies to create topical treatments, three compounding pharmacies have filed a lawsuit against the...more
As public health officials accelerate their efforts to develop a vaccine to combat Ebola—one that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved for use—some may ask if there is ever an option for critically...more
On October 3, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) published an unexpected, yet long-awaited, set of proposed rules that would add new anti-kickback law safe harbors,...more
10/17/2014
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Ambulance Providers ,
Anti-Kickback Statute ,
CMP Law ,
Gainsharing ,
Healthcare ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
OIG ,
Pharmacies ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Safe Harbors
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently issued an advisory opinion regarding a proposed arrangement by a specialty pharmacy (Requestor) to pay local pharmacies a per-fill fee...more
On June 18, 2014, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publicly stated that the recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to vacate HHS’s regulation covering orphan drugs and...more