Top of the morning to you, and a fine one it is. Clear blue skies and pleasant, if chilly, breezes are enveloping the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are foraging for noshes and keeping strangers at bay. As for us, we are engaged in the usual rituals, starting with firing up the coffee kettle — our choice today is Vermont maple walnut — and hunting for items of interest. On that note, please enjoy the tidbits compiled below. We hope you have a smashing day and conquer the world. And as always, please do keep in touch. …
Richard Pazdur, a veteran regulator at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration who left the agency last month, said that the firewall between political appointees and drug reviewers at the agency “has been breached,” and that there is not enough transparency around a new voucher program that grants accelerated review to certain drugs selected by Trump administration officials, STAT reports. Pazdur also said he was deeply troubled by agency staff “being trampled on.” He referred to one individual who was “writing inflammatory emails using the F bomb,” telling center directors and deputy center directors that “they will go after them, that they were going to lose their jobs if they did not play ball.”
AbbVie finalized a deal with the Trump administration to cut the cost of certain medicines, marking the latest pact as part of a “most favored nation” pricing initiative, CNN says. The company also pledged $100 billion over the next decade for research and development in the U.S. The three-year agreement provides AbbVie with exemption from tariffs and future pricing mandates, but further terms of the deal remain confidential. Under the agreement, AbbVie will offer several drugs to Medicaid as well as directly to consumers at “most favored nation” levels, or the lowest price available in peer countries. It will sell some other medications at a deep discount compared to their list prices. The drugs subject to the pricing include glaucoma treatment Combigan and thyroid hormone medicine Synthroid. AbbVie is separately expected to reduce the price of its Humira rheumatoid arthritis drug, as well as another glaucoma medicine, Alphagan.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…