Good morning, everyone, and how are you today? We are doing just fine, thank you, helped along by a warm and shiny sun enveloping the otherwise chilly Pharmalot campus. This gives us hope that spring is near. We can dream, yes? Meanwhile, we are keeping busy with the usual sundry tasks and firing up the trusty coffee kettle for cups of stimulation — our choice today is peppermint mocha. After all, there is much to be done and, no doubt, you can relate. So here is the lovingly assembled menu of tidbits to help you along. Have a smashing day and do keep in touch….
Some pharmaceutical companies not targeted by President Trump for agreements to lower U.S. drug pricing aim to craft their own deals in an attempt to avoid potentially onerous tariffs and new price-setting schemes, Reuters reports. The drugmakers, which have not been publicly disclosed, have begun reaching out to contacts at the White House and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to try to create their own deals. The administration has not communicated to companies how to potentially proceed if they did not receive a letter from Trump. Drugmakers are concerned about new pilot programs that could set prices for Medicare drugs in large parts of the country. Those programs would require manufacturer rebates for drugs paid for by the Medicare health plan for millions of Americans age 65 and over if U.S. prices exceed international levels.
Sanofi is replacing Paul Hudson as chief executive officer, spurning his attempts to bolster the company’s pipeline amid recent clinical setbacks, and replacing him with Belén Garijo, who is the chief executive officer at Merck KGgA, STAT notes. She starts April 29. Hudson, who took over at Sanofi in 2019, sought to invest more in research programs as it aims to find a successor for its mega-blockbuster Dupixent, an immunology therapy that it markets with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The approach has sometimes worried investors, but Hudson has argued that doubling down on the pipeline would turn it into a research powerhouse with a focus on immunology in the years ahead, with Dupixent’s patent protection expected to end in the early 2030s. The company has fewer blockbusters than other European pharmaceutical companies and its share price has been a comparative laggard over the past year. Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…