A big ol’ clarification

The other day we told you about a local TV news story about pharmacy deserts and how independent pharmacies are closing because, WSB said, of high (wholesale) drug prices.

What we should have pointed out was that it’s not exactly high prices that are killing independent pharmacies, it’s the fact that pharmacies are being under-reimbursed. A $1,000 drug is fine^*, as long as PBMs aren’t reimbursing pharmacies $800 for it.

^* There are issues with prices, too, but that’s for another day.

Easing the biosimilar path

The FDA continues to try to make it easier to swap out biosimilar drugs for their brand-name counterparts. Its latest move: Instead of requiring biosimilar makers to conduct a whole new set of studies to prove their drugs are as safe as the original, the agency now says they can “use analy­ses of com­par­a­tive an­a­lyt­i­cal and clin­i­cal da­ta” instead.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, they don’t need to test whether it also tastes like a duck^*.

This comes after the FDA actually looked at whether there was a safety difference among par­tic­i­pants who switched be­tween biosim­i­lars and brand-name prod­ucts. There wasn’t, and the change will save biosimilar makers millions — not to mention patients and insurers.

^* Not the best analogy, but you get the drift.

The X for Y Files: Tz/Dz/Az

Three drugs for treating enlarged prostate — terazosin, alfuzosin, and doxazosin — might also be able to treat neurodegenerative diseases like Lewy body dementia, Parkinson’s, and even Alzheimer’s.

It seems, found University of Iowa researchers, that those drugs boost energy production in brain cells, which can slow or even prevent those diseases.

“Overall, men taking terazosin-type medications had about a 40% lower risk of developing a DLB diagnosis compared to men taking tamsulosin, and about a 37% reduction in risk compared to men taking five alpha reductase inhibitors.”

This is based on a “large observational study” of 643,000 men over three years, so even though it’s big it’s still only showing correlation, but it’s still an interesting finding that, as always, calls for more research.

Speaking of Parkinson’s….

A new blood test might be able to detect it seven years before symptoms occur. It was developed at University College London and uses artificial intelligence, of course. The good news:

The AI could diagnose Parkinson’s with 100% accuracy, researchers found. They then tested the program’s ability to predict whether a person would go on to develop Parkinson’s later in their lives.

The study involved only 72 patients, 16 of whom went on to develop Parkinson’s, but now they have eight blood markers they believe can be used to diagnose the disease years in advance — after more study, of course.

Short Takes

Skyrizi expands

The FDA has approved Abbvie’s Skyrizi for treating active ulcerative colitis in adults; it was previously used for Crohn’s disease, psoriatic arthritis, and plaque psoriasis — in case you missed the TV ads.

Five more drugs in shortage

Per the FDA and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists:

• Calcium chloride, dextrose, magnesium chloride, sodium chloride, sodium lactate solution
• Dantrolene sodium injection (“The shortage is predicted to resolve between late June and mid-July.”)
• Furosemide injection (“No resupply dates are available.”)
• Levofloxacin injection in 5% dextrose (“The drugmakers said they expect supply to rebound between late summer 2024 and December 2026.”)
• Sodium acetate injection (“Recovery is expected to happen between June and December.”)

“Micro” makes it worse

So, gentlemen, are you worried now?

Forbes falls for pharma fallacy

Oh, Forbes, you’re usually so good in your reporting, but you dropped the ball on “What To Know About Fake Weight Loss Drugs.”

See, there are (at least) three different kinds of alternative Ozempic, and the article doesn’t differentiate — and the distinction is crucial.

First, there’s the kind that’s sold as “Ozempic,” which clearly violates Lilly’s trademark. Never trust that stuff. Then there’s the semaglutide that’s cooked up in basement labs and sold by pop-up online shops and may or may not be real^*. And then there’s the compounded semaglutide that’s made by legit compounding pharmacies.

Drug makers are deliberately trying to confuse people by lumping those together, and then they toss out misleading statements like ‘We don’t sell a generic version, so this is clearly fake.’ (The reality is that legit compounders get their ingredients — in this case semaglutide — from sources other than Lilly.)

Unfortunately, Forbes fell for the tricks and made it sound like anything other than the brand name is suspect, and it’s not.

^* It’s not.

Got wood?

Wooden cutting boards have anti-bacterial properties — that’s not news. But now Finnish researchers have looked at whether and how well different wood surfaces kill viruses.

Turns out they do a darned good job.

Your best bet: oak, which “was notably effective against non-enveloped enteroviruses,”

But pine or spruce were also excellent — they started working to kill enveloped coronaviruses the fastest, “significantly reducing viral infectivity within just 10 to 15 minutes” and rendering them totally ineffective in an hour.