Novartis puts $14B Roche stake up for sale

Will Novartis sell its big stake in crosstown rival Roche? That’s been the question for years now, as Big Pharma worked its way through blockbuster patent expirations and restructured to compensate--and the queries only grew louder after new chairman Joerg Reinhardt promised to look at all of Novartis’ assets for potential sale.
Now, the answer appears to be yes.

Αλλαγές στο clawback και την τιμολόγηση φαρμάκων - Νέα Υπουργική Απόφαση

Αλλαγές στον τρόπο υπολογισμού του clawback (μηχανισμός αυτόματης επιστροφής) για τη νοσοκομειακή φαρμακευτική δαπάνη και τη δαπάνη των φαρμακείων του ΕΟΠΥΥ (για τη νοσοκομειακή φαρμακευτική δαπάνη) για το έτος 2016, φέρνει νέα σχετική υπουργική απόφαση. Επίσης, σε διαφορετική υπουργική απόφαση καθορίζεται ο τρόπος τιμολόγησης των γενοσήμων φαρμάκων.

Αναφορικά με το clawback, η νέα Υπουργική Απόφαση (ΥΑ) ορίζει ότι «η συνολική δαπάνη υπολογίζεται από τις νοσοκομειακές τιμές των σκευασμάτων μετά την αφαίρεση κάθε νομοθετημένης έκπτωσης και επιστροφής (rebates)».

Analysis shows pharma companies aggressively increased prices on widely used drugs

Major drug companies have raised prices over the past five years, sometimes doubling them, a Reuters analysis found. Prices for four of the nation's top 10 drugs increased more than 100 percent since 2011, Reuters found. Six others went up more than 50 percent. Together, the price increases on drugs for arthritis, high cholesterol, asthma and other common problems added billions in costs for consumers, employers and government health programs.
Extraordinary price hikes by two small companies, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., drew new attention to drug costs. Turing expected to book $200 million by raising the price of Daraprim, an antiparasitic used for a rare infection, by 5,000 percent, according to company documents released by Congressional investigators.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer could be split up by the end of the year

International Business Times | Dan Cancian 

Ian Read said a decision on whether Pfizer should sell off its lower-margin unit of older products facing generic competition would be taken "no later than the end of 2016", adding the group needed to reduce its tax burden.

The US-based firm and its Irish-headquartered counterpart were set to conclude a £113m ($160m, €140m) merger only to walk away from the proposal after the US Treasury Department unveiled a crackdown on so-called "tax inversion deals", which see a company relocate its legal domicile to a lower-tax country usually while retaining its material operations in its country of origin.

Breaking news: The Pfizer-Allergan deal is off

After the U.S. Treasury Department issued new tax-inversion rules Monday, the two companies decided to walk away, Pfizer said in a statement Wednesday morning.

At $160 billion, it would have been the biggest pharma deal ever. It would have moved Pfizer's official headquarters to Ireland and created the world's largest drugmaker. And, before Treasury stepped in, it would have satisfied Pfizer CEO Ian Read's longtime quest to cut its tax rate with an overseas move.

Because Treasury's new rules qualified as an "adverse tax law change" under their merger agreement, Pfizer's break-up penalty is small: The company agreed to pay Allergan ($AGN) $150 million to reimburse expenses associated with the transaction, Allergan said in a Wednesday morning announcement.

Obviously, the deal's collapse is a disappointment on both sides, but fans of a Pfizer split-up might take consolation in this: The company now plans to decide by year's end whether to break into two separate businesses.