How to Navigate Life with a Chronic Disease Like T1D and High-Deductible Insurance - Redux
Last February (2021), I wrote a blog post called " How to Navigate Life with a Chronic Disease Like T1D and High-Deductible Insurance Plans " (read my post athttps://blog.sstrumello.com/2021/02/how-to-navigate-life-with-chronic.html for details).I still stand by all of the recommendations I made in that blog post because I actually used (and still use some) the methods described effectively and saved a lot of money by doing so. But times change, and sometimes strategies need to evolve with changes that happen in the world around us.Intro of " Authorized Generic " Insulins, plus Branded/Unbranded BiosimilarsFor example, in ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - April 7, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 high-deductible insurance plans insulin Source Type: blogs

My Recent Podcast on " The Diabetes Way "
A frequent complaint about U.S. prescription drug prices is it is difficult to explain WHY the prices here are so high. A frequent pharma answer to the question WHY is this happening is " it ' s complicated " . They aren ' t kidding. it IS complicated. But today, there are tools on the internet which can help many people navigate the dysfunctional U.S. system without being taken to the cleaners. I recently did a podcast about that which might be worth listening to. But it ' s helpful to understand how I became the guy the podcasters wanted to interview about the subject.Back in September 2021, I was invited as a guest to s...
Source: Scott's Web Log - March 23, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: David Kliff 2022 Amber Clour coupons podcast prescriptions rebates Rx The Diabetes Way Source Type: blogs

Generic Glucagon for $200, Where's the Savings? Get it for $5...WITH a coupon
In December 2020, the U.S. FDA approved several long-delayed generic versions of traditional mix-and-inject form of glucagon emergency kits. Among them were from Amphastar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga, CA https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/29/2151177/0/en/Amphastar-Announces-Approval-for-Glucagon-for-Injection-Kit-1mg.html which was the very first, followed by another from Fresenius Kabi USA based in Lake Zurich, IL (in suburban Chicago, the parent company is based in Germany)https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200205005106/en/Fresenius-Kabi-Introduces-Glucagon-Emergency-Medicine-Kit....
Source: Scott's Web Log - March 7, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 FDA generic glucagon Source Type: blogs

Civica Rx: We're Entering the U.S. Insulin Biosimilar Business!
This morning, I woke up and unplugged my phone from its charger, and went to close Twitter (which I forgot to close last night before I went to bed) and at the top was a press release from Civica Rx. The press release is here: Civica to Manufacture and Distribute Affordable Insulinhttp://dlvr.it/SL0QZV The news was greeted as a welcome development by JDRF, Beyond Type 1 and the Helmsley Charitable Trust to name a few. The ADA said nothing formally about it as of 10:00 AM. In essence, Civica Rx says it plans to sell biosimilar versions of Lantus, Humalog and Novolog. As usual, there ' s a lot of details unpack her...
Source: Scott's Web Log - March 3, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 Biocon Biosimilar biosimilars Civica Rx CivicaRx insulin Viatris Source Type: blogs

Welldyne's WellCardRx Discount Card/App: Another PBM-Powered Discount Card
In several recent posts during the past few years, I ' ve addressed the emergence of prescription drug discount cards and apps. Perhaps the most notable post on that can be seenHERE.Much of that began with the company known asGoodRx Holdings, Inc., but a downside to GoodRx is because it only has access to a single formulary (most PBM ' s typically a high-price/high-rebate formulary which benefits the PBM, and others demanded by big clients which tend to favor lower cost generic drugs) offered by each PBM it does business with, that also means it may not have access to the other formularies which mainly preference generic d...
Source: Scott's Web Log - February 7, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2022 coupon-generating websites apps coupons Discount Card GoodRx PBM prescriptions Source Type: blogs

Discerning Hope from Hype Related to Novo Nordisk Glucose-Responsive Insulin
Below is a copy of an investor report (seeHERE) on Novo Nordisk from the Wall Street investment bank known as Credit Suisse (the New York-based research business of the Swiss banking giant which mainly serves billionaire clients was formerly known as First Boston). I will discern my take-aways as it pertains to the few notes about Novo Nordisk ' s much-hyped (by the company itself) glucose-responsive insulin. There is some progress, but it is by no means a done deal.Novo Nordisk AS Feedback from London Post 3Q 2021 Management Meeting on ScribdOn November 4, 2021, Credit Suisse attended a London sell-side meeting with Novo ...
Source: Scott's Web Log - January 16, 2022 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Credit Suisse glucose responsive insulin Novo Nordisk Smart Insulin 2021 2022 SmartCells Source Type: blogs

Novo Nordisk Takes a Hit on China Insulin Price Reductions
Last week, stock prices of two global insulin-manufacturers (Novo Nordisk and Lilly, but Novo Nordisk suffered far more than Lilly did) took a hit on news related to their Chinese operations (seehttps://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma-asia/novo-nordisk-sanofi-eli-lilly-cut-insulin-price-china-s-latest-vbp-off-patent-drugs ANDhttps://endpts.com/china-boasts-48-price-cut-on-insulin-as-domestic-drugmakers-eclipse-big-pharma-in-bulk-order/ for more). Inclusion in China ' s National Reimbursement Drugs List requires volume-based procurement (VBP) discounts. Chinese sales have enabled a number of drug companies to pump-up their sale...
Source: Scott's Web Log - December 6, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs

Why Biosimilar Makers (incl. Insulin) Must Sell 2 Versions of their Copy-Cat Meds in USA
Recall that Adam Fein, who writes the Drug Channels blog, recently documented (seeHERE for details) that Viatris (fka Mylan) and its biotech co-development partner Biocon, recently revealed that in spite of earning the FDA " interchangeable " designation for the insulin biosimilar of Sanofi ' s Lantus for the product Viatris branded Semglee that they would be using prescription drug rebates needed to bribe, errr ... secure PBM formulary placement. They willoffer both a branded and un-branded version ... of a biosimilar. That ' s weird. FiercePharma documented the curious necessity for biosimilar makers to sell two ver...
Source: Scott's Web Log - November 21, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Biocon coupon-generating websites apps formulary PBM Viatris Walgreens Source Type: blogs

How We Wrested Control of Our Rx Drug Spending. Maybe You Can, too.
This week, we ' ve heard reporting that the big Congressional bill which was supposed to include a provision for Medicare, which is the taxpayer-funded senior insurance plan to actually negotiate prices on prescription drugs (just as most other countries, as well as the Veteran ' s Administration [VA] already do right now) was going to be omitted because of a handful of PhRMA-bankrolled lawmakers pushed to kill it. That said, it isn ' t over until its over. Although we don ' t know what she might or might not do, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi still has some tricks in her own playbook if it doesn ' t happen a...
Source: Scott's Web Log - November 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: coupon-generating websites apps PBM prescriptions Source Type: blogs

Stolen Recipes
About a month ago, I did something I never envisioned I might do. I was in CVS waiting for the pharmacist to give me a flu shot, and while I was waiting, I browsed the magazine rack. I looked at one which was entirely recipes. There was a recipe which kind of caught my eye: it was for " Loaded Cauliflower Soup " . I would have bought the entire magazine, but then I looked at the price: a stunning $12.99...for a MAGAZINE with a flimsy cover (not even a real book).So I opened said magazine and snapped a photograph of the recipe on my phone instead. I suppose one could call that theft, except that I did not remove the magazin...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 17, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Low-Carb food recipes Source Type: blogs

Some Key EASD News for T1D
This week, the European rival to the ADA Scientific Sessions known as EASD (which stands for the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) held its annual meeting, which was the organization ' s 57th Annual Meeting and it took place virtually (much like the ADA Scientific Sessions did this year) due to COVID-19. EASD was held from September 27, 2021 to October 1, 2021. In recent years, neither the ADA Scientific Sessions not the EASD Meetings have yielded many surprise findings or previously unknown product launches.My short summary is that Novo Nordisk is finally getting on the " smart pen " cap bandwagon, while riv...
Source: Scott's Web Log - October 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: 2021 Bigfoot Unity Companion Medical EASD FTC insulin prices Lilly Medtronic diabetes Novo Nordisk rebate reform Smart Pen Caps Smart Pens Source Type: blogs

U.S. Patients Need U.S. FTC to Do More to Bring Rx Drug Prices Down to Earth
For a moment, try to answer the following question honestly:When are biosimilar insulins, even those which are designated by the FDA as " interchangeable " with the innovator, MORE EXPENSIVE than the originator molecule the biosimilar is supposed to be a copy of? The correct answer is when a person with diabetes lives in the United States. It defies logic!In theory, the biosimilars should be cheaper because the work of developing, conducting clinical trials and whatnot is not the same to make a copy. The biosimilar doesn ' t have to go through the same process of conducting extensive three phases of clinical tria...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 15, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Biosimilar biosimilars Federal Trade Commission FTC PBM rebate reform rebates Source Type: blogs

U.S. Patients Need U.S. FTC to Do More to Bring Rx Drug Prices Down to Earth
For a moment, try to answer the following question honestly:When are biosimilar insulins, even those which are designated by the FDA as " interchangable " with the innovator, MORE EXPENSIVE than the originator molecule the biosimilar is supposed to be a copy of? The correct answer is when a person with diabetes lives in the United States. It defies logic!In theory, the biosimilars should be cheaper because the work of developing, conducting clinical trials and whatnot is not the same to make a copy. The biosimilar doesn ' t have to go through the same process of conducting extensive three phases of clinical trial...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 15, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: Federal Trade Commission FTC PBM rebate reform rebates Source Type: blogs

Coupons, PBM's ... oh my!
Over the past few years, my coverage of coupon-generating websites/apps has increased by a lot in this blog because those have emerged as a critical way for patients to get prescriptions at lower, PBM-negotiated prices even if they have yet to satisfy an annual insurance deductible or they have no insurance at all. In general, coupon-generating websites/apps offer consumers access to the deeper pharmacy benefits manager ( " PBM " )-negotiated prices on prescription drugs, at prices which are often substantially less than the prices you could otherwise attain as a consumer without the benefit of a commercial healthcare...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: CGM CGMS coupon-generating websites apps Dexcom insulin Libre PBM test strips Source Type: blogs

Coupons, PBM's ... oh my!
Over the past few years, my coverage of coupon-generating websites/apps has increased by a lot in this blog because those have emerged as a critical way for patients to get prescriptions at lower, PBM-negotiated prices even if they have yet to satisfy an annual insurance deductible or they have no insurance at all. In general, coupon-generating websites/apps offer consumers access to the deeper pharmacy benefits manager ( " PBM " )-negotiated prices on prescription drugs, at prices which are often substantially less than the prices you could otherwise attain as a consumer without the benefit of a commercial healthcare...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: CGM CGMS coupon-generating websites apps Dexcom insulin Libre PBM test strips Source Type: blogs