STAT+: Pharmalittle: We\u2019re reading about conflicts on U.S. vaccine panels, pharma DTC sales, and much more
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Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Blue skies and unusually cool breezes for this time of year are enveloping the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are bounding about the grounds in search of edible creatures. As for us, we are engaged in the usual rituals \u2014 firing up the coffee kettle in order to brew a cup of stimulation (the choice today is cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e) and foraging for items of interest. On that note, here is the latest menu of tidbits to help you get started on your journey today, which we hope will be meaningful, productive and \u2014 dare we say \u2014 exciting. Meanwhile, do keep in touch \u2014 we enjoy secret dossiers and furtive tips. \u2026<\/p>\n
President Trump may aggressively negotiate lower drug prices in Medicare using a program that Democrats created and he rarely mentions in public<\/strong>, STAT<\/a> tells us. With the latest round of Medicare drug price negotiations underway, some Wall Street analysts and Washington insiders say they think the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will press to extract much lower prices from pharmaceutical companies. The negotiation program was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed without a single Republican vote. The deadline for price-negotiation meetings is Sept. 30, and federal negotiators must make final offers by Oct. 15. The prices will become public by the end of November. Trump has only mentioned the Medicare negotiation program to criticize it, even though this is the primary tool the U.S. government uses to lower drug prices.<\/p>\n Conflicts of interest on federal government vaccine panels have declined to \u201chistorically low levels\u201d in recent years<\/strong>, STAT<\/a> writes, citing a new study, and the findings are likely to increase debate over a contentious issue pushed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The rate of conflicts among members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices dropped from nearly 43% in 2000 to 5% last year, according to the paper published in JAMA. Conflicts on the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee fell from 11% to 0 during the same period. Overall, the rate of any type of conflict declared by panel members was 13.5% on ACIP between 2000 and 2024, and 4% on the FDA vaccine panel, with conflicts dropping precipitously over the years on both panels. Most conflicts involved funding for research work.<\/p>\n Continue to STAT+ to read the full story\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n