Indy pharmacies ‘shaken’ by governor’s veto

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a front-page story about how independent pharmacies are — to put it mildly — unhappy with Governor Brian Kemp’s veto of Senate Bill 198, which would have required independent pharmacies to be reimbursed by the State Health Benefits Plan at the same rate as chain pharmacies.

The bill passed the Georgia House and Senate almost unanimously, but the governor said it would be too expensive to pay small pharmacies as much as the chains get. Meanwhile, at least three independent pharmacies in the state have gone out of business so far this year, as have many more in the last few years.

The State Health Benefits Plan is managed by CVS Caremark.

Kemp said earlier that the 2025 state budget “includes one-time funding for a dispensing fee of $3 per prescription for independent pharmacists.”

Protection from the unvaccinated

Some people with compromised immune systems can’t get the measles vaccine. This wasn’t too big a deal, as we’ve virtually eliminated measles in the country. Until, that is, the anti-vax movement, which has brought measles back and put those people at risk. (Herd immunity requires 95% of people to be immune, and in the US that number is down to 85% for measles.)

Now, though, there might be a breakthrough. Researchers from Columbia University and the La Jolla Institute for Immunology have found different proteins (“fusion proteins”) that trigger an immune response to measles, but that don’t need to be delivered via a weakened version of the virus — that’s what makes the standard MMR vaccine dangerous for the immunocompromised.

They’re now looking at stabilizing those fusion proteins into a vaccine

A bit of good news for cancer patients

Cisplatin is no longer in shortage.

The FDA will be regulating cosmetics ingredients

The 2022 Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act begins to take effect this week. It “bestowed on authorities the power to recall a product and to make companies report serious adverse events, from hair loss to birth defects.”

The effect will most likely be seen in fewer claims being made for products (no, that cream won’t make you look like a 16-year-old), and manufacturers looking more closely at the ingredients they’re using — and possibly reformulating.

Preventing rebound migraines

People with chronic migraine sometimes overuse pain drugs, looking for a way to relieve the pain. The problem (besides the obvious) is that it can lead to rebound headaches.

It turns out that the migraine drug atogepant might help. A British study found that even when atogepant doesn’t prevent every migraine, by reducing the amount of meds someone needs, it can reduce rebound headaches. Fewer rebound headaches then mean less medication, leading to a positive feedback loop and less overuse.

[F]or participants with medication overuse, those taking atogepant twice daily had an average of three fewer migraine days a month and three fewer headache days when compared to those taking placebo.

Even better, atogepant cut the number of people overusing medication by 62% (if they took it twice daily) or 52% (if they took it once a day).

Tracking OOP drug prices

When we talk about drug prices in the US, it gets confusing: There’s the list price, the (secret) price PBMs actually pay, and what patients actually shell out either by paying cash or via their co-pay.

GoodRx is now tracking the latter, which is what most people are concerned about (aside from business owners, who are looking at premiums). What it’s found in its Prescription Cost Tracker is that….

• Americans have spent $21 billion on prescription drugs so far in 2024.
• In 2024, the average out-of-pocket cost for a prescription is $16.26
• Almost half of available medications — 46% — are not covered by insurance, affecting 25% of Americans.
  • Of those drugs that are covered, half require prior authorization, step therapy, or have a another restriction.
• Every month, 32% of Americans — 51 million people — leave prescriptions for medications unfilled due to cost.

At least it’s better in the US than in the rest of the world, where government bureaucrats decide what medications they’ll cover — here we’ve got the PBMs looking out for us^*.

^* Sarcasm? You decide.

A creepy little non-pharma science story

In the next step toward crafting our forthcoming robot overlords, scientists have developed a lifelike skin to cover robots. It’s made of living human skin cells.

Not creepy enough? They made it smile.