Australia Set a Price Lilly Refused, So Lilly Built a Channel Around the PBS
Exclusion only works as leverage when the excluded drug has no market. Mounjaro has one, and Lilly built the channel.
Editor’s Pick
The one story the editor elevates. Curation, not format.
Rare Disease Produced Two First-Ever Approvals in Two Days, and Both of Them Are Neurology
The FDA approved first-ever treatments for Sanfilippo syndrome type A and ataxia-telangiectasia a day apart. Both diseases destroy the nervous system.
In Ustekinumab Biosimilars, Approval Stopped Being the Hard Part
A biosimilar licence used to be the scarce asset. In ustekinumab it is the entry ticket, and the returns go to whoever solves supply and device.
In Japan, Expanding a Label Is What Triggers the Price Cut
Dupixent, Nucala and Vyvdura were all cut after adding an indication. In Japan the trigger for a price cut is the drug reaching more patients.
AstraZeneca Announced Nothing. The Market Charged It $24bn Anyway.
AstraZeneca closed 9% down on an unconfirmed report of Bristol Myers talks. Roughly $24bn gone, on a conversation neither company will admit to.
Congress Exempted the Medically Frail. The Coding System Cannot Find Them.
Fewer than 500 of 10,000 rare diseases have an ICD-10 code. The Medicaid frailty exemption is verified against codes most patients never had.
Britain Thought It Had an Opt-Out. Washington Reads the Deal Differently.
Britain believed it had secured an exemption from the MFN reference basket. Washington reads the arrangement differently, and implementation is still being negotiated.
One Trial Miss Cut AstraZeneca’s Cushion Above $80bn to $800m
A drug worth $1.9bn of 2030 revenue cost AstraZeneca £19bn in a day, leaving roughly $800m of headroom above its $80bn goal with the risky readouts still ahead.
White House and London Clinch Drug-Pricing Deal With 25% UK Price Lift
The U.S. and U.K. have reached an agreement in principle that lifts U.K. net prices for new innovative medicines by 25 percent, caps VPAG repayments at 15 percent from 2026 onward, and exempts U.K.-origin pharmaceutical and medical goods from Section 232 tariffs.
Takeover Battle: Novo Nordisk Wins Brave Court Victory in $10B Metsera Deal Amid FTC Probe
Novo Nordisk’s $10 billion takeover for Metsera has survived a Delaware court challenge from Pfizer but now faces federal scrutiny from the FTC.