STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a Maryland law governing 340B discounts, an obesity drug, and more
The largest U.S. pharmaceutical industry trade group and several drug companies lost a bid to block a Maryland law requiring the companies to offer discounts on medicines dispensed by third-party pharmacies that contract with hospitals and clinics serving low-income populations, Reuters notes. U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox refused to issue a preliminary order blocking the law while he hears a challenge to it by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Novartis, AbbVie and AstraZeneca. The case is among numerous similar challenges to state laws around the country dealing with obligations under the 340B program, a federal program under which hospitals and clinics serving low-income populations can receive discounts on prescription drugs. Drugmakers must participate in the 340B program in order to receive funds from government health insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
On Sunday, a small biotech company called Summit Therapeutics won a remarkable victory, saying its experimental drug outperformed Merck’s Keytruda, the world’s best-selling drug, in non-small cell lung cancer, the disease that represents the biggest market for the Merck drug, STAT tells us. By itself, Summit’s victory would be a dramatic story, although not an unheard of one in the unpredictable world of biotechnology. But it’s just the start. Because at the center of it is one of the industry’s most iconoclastic figures: Robert “Bob” Duggan, who became a billionaire after he bought up shares of another biotech company, Pharmacyclics, that was a on the brink of failure, developed a breakthrough cancer drug, and sold the company to AbbVie for $21 billion.
Terns Pharmaceuticals reported that its oral obesity drug helped to reduce weight by an average of 4.9% in an early stage study, sending its shares surging 31% in premarket trading, Reuters notes. The experimental drug, TERN-601, which belongs to the popular GLP-1 class, also met the main goals of safety and tolerability in the study. By comparison, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound are injectable drugs, although both two companies are also developing oral treatments for weight loss. A 740-milligram dosage of the once-daily Terns drug led to an average weight loss of 4.9%, when adjusted for placebo rates, after 28 days of treatment. The company said it plans to advance the drug into mid-stage trials next year.
