Bayer Unites with Advocacy Groups to Raise Awareness about Colorectal Cancer
Bayer has announced another year of its partnership with patient advocacy organizations Colorectal Cancer Alliance and Fight Colorectal Cancer. Bayer is touring with the alliance on the national Big Colon Tour in 2018 to bring a giant inflatable exhibit to 50 events nationwide to raise awareness throughout the year.
Additionally, Bayer matched $1 for every #StrongArmSelfie contributed to the Fight CRC initiative in March to fund colorectal cancer research in the United States for the fourth consecutive year.
U.S. Medicines Use
The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science (formerly known as the QuintilesIMS Institute) has published its annual report on medicine use and spending in the United States. Among the findings:
Big drop in opioid prescriptions: U.S. opioid prescription volume, as measured by morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs), declined 12% in 2017, the largest annual drop in 25 years. In total, 23.3 billion fewer MMEs were dispensed to patients. The number of dispensed opioid prescriptions decreased 10.2% in 2017, while patients receiving high doses declined by 16.1%.
Spending on medicines slows considerably: Gross total spending on all U.S. medicines increased 1.4% to $453 billion in 2017 (2016 growth was 4.8%). Net spending increased 0.6% to $324 billion due to greater generic volume, larger manufacturer discounts and increasing coupon use.
Patient out-of-pocket costs down: List prices at pharmacies rose by 58% during the past five years, while patient out-of-pocket costs declined 17%, as increasing adoption of generic medicine and greater use of coupons lowered patient costs. Almost 31% of prescriptions were dispensed at zero out-of-pocket cost, while 2.5% cost more than $50 per dispensed medicine.
Major decline in generic pricing: Overall generic growth slowed from $5.9 billion in 2015 (and $600 million in 2016) to a decline of $5.5 billion in 2017. $5 billion of the decline was due to price reductions.
Five-year outlook: A modest increase of 2% to 5% in net spending is projected during the next five years, with 1% to 4% growth in retail and mail-order prescription drugs. Overall medicine spending in the U.S. will be in the range of $550-$600 billion by 2022, $380-$410 billion on a net basis. This growth, driven primarily by the large number of new medicines, many of which will be specialty and orphan drugs, will be offset by the impact of losses of brand exclusivity.
Pfizer and Susan G. Komen Team up for Patients and Caregivers
Pfizer and Susan G. Komen have partnered to present a line-up of educational events, held in local communities across the United States and aimed at helping improve the lives of women and men living with metastatic breast cancer (MBC), the form of the disease responsible for most of the nation’s 41,000 annual breast cancer deaths. Pfizer is donating $500,000 in support of MBC programming. Funding supports events being held September 2018 through December 2019, which will inform attendees of the latest news and updates within the metastatic breast cancer landscape.
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PharmaVOICE@Industry events
HLTH — The Future of Healthcare — held in Las Vegas May 6-9 brought together more than 3,500 industry stakeholders, ranging from established providers, payers, employers, and pharma services to disruptive start-ups and investors as well as representatives from government, media, and analyst companies. The goal of this inaugural large-scale event was to spark change by covering innovation in healthcare that is driving a reduction in cost and an increase in quality.
Intellus Worldwide Summit held its annual event May 6-9 in Philadelphia. Intellus is the result of PBIRG (Pharmaceutical Business Intelligence & Research Group) and PMRG (Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group) joining together in January 2018. The 2018 Summit: 7 Billion Voices provided thought-provoking keynotes who are leaders in rare disease and patient advocacy.
NORD’s 35th Anniversary Celebration presenting the 2018 Rare Impact Awards was held May 17, 2018, in Washington, D.C. This event celebrates the efforts to help the 30 million Americans with rare diseases who, by the very nature of their diagnoses, may be overlooked by traditional medicine, research and healthcare policies.
Honorees include: Robert Campbell, Jr., M.D., Lifetime Achievement Award; Estelle Benson, The Abbey S. Meyers Leadership Award; Richard Pazdur, M.D., Public Health Leadership Award; Patrick Dunegan, Rare Impact Award; Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D., Rare Impact Award; Maria Kefalas, Ph.D., Rare Impact Award; The Honorable Frank Pallone, Jr., Congressman from New Jersey, Rare Impact Award; Ellen Sigal, Ph.D., Rare Impact Award; The Honorable Marcy Toepel, State Representative from Pennsylvania, Rare Impact Award; Chris Ulmer, Rare Impact Award; BioMarin Pharmaceutical for Brineura, Industry Innovation Award; Cook Medical LLC for Flourish, Industry Innovation Award; Foundation Medicine Inc. for FoundationOne CDx, Industry Innovation Award; Novartis for Kymriah, Industry Innovation Award; Spark Therapeutics for Luxturna, Industry Innovation Award; and ltragenyx Pharmaceutical for MEPSEVII, Industry Innovation Award.(PV)
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Contributed Articles
Lilly and Teva Earn Top Scores in Direct-To-Consumer Website Performance Analytics
Provided By: Indegene
Business Transformation Survey — Summary Report
Provided By: TayganPoint Consulting Group
Healthy Opinions
Patients as Partners: Imagining the Future of Rare Disease Therapies
http://www.pharmavoice.com/weblinx/healthy-opinions-rare-disease/
White Paper
Accumulator Adjustment Programs: What They Are and How Should a Brand Respond?
Provided By: TrialCard Incorporated
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PV100 News
Jay Carter — Distinguished Alumni
Jay Carter, executive VP and director of business development at AbelsonTaylor, has been named 2018 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. He is the first advertising executive to receive the award.
The Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 1976 to recognize alumni who have made significant lifetime contributions to their professions or society through practice, research, education or public service.
Mr. Carter is a 2005 and 2006 PharmaVOICE 100.
C-Suite Role For Adele Gulfo
Adele Gulfo, a 2007 and 2016 PharmaVOICE 100, has joined Roivant Sciences as chief of commercial development. Roivant is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on reducing the time and cost of the drug development process to improve the lives of patients and their families. The Roivant family of companies includes Myovant (women’s health and prostate cancer), Axovant (neurology), Urovant (urology), Enzyvant (rare diseases), Dermavant (dermatology), Genevant (RNA therapeutics), Metavant (cardiometabolic diseases), Datavant (healthcare data), and Arbutus (hepatitis B). Today, there are 24 investigational drugs in 11 therapeutic areas being tested in over 50 clinical trials and 300 nonclinical studies across the Roivant family of companies.
Most recently, Ms. Gulfo was executive VP, chief strategy officer, and head of global commercial development at Mylan. Before joining Mylan, she served as president and general manager of Pfizer’s $12 billion-plus U.S. primary care business unit, comprised of more than 5,000 employees across multiple therapeutic areas. She also ran Pfizer’s commercial operations, and as U.S. country chair she led the managed care organization across all biopharmaceutical businesses, including specialty, oncology, and vaccines. Ms. Gulfo was Pfizer’s president of Latin America, where she led a team of more than 4,000 colleagues across 24 countries.
Mike Myers Unveils new Model
Mike Myers, a 2007 PharmaVOICE 100, along with Steve Bernstein, have co-founded CrowdPharm, a new agency model for healthcare marketing. Based on a crowdsourcing approach, the agency works with vetted talent around the world to deliver solutions on brand strategy, mulitichannel campaigns, websites, digital, tradeshow displays, and sales materials. Mr. Myers says the agency is building one of world’s largest networks of strategic and creative professionals devoted to healthcare, medical, and pharmaceutical marketing advertising.
Previously, Mr. Myers was president and founder of Palio. He also serves as founder and CEO of Cross & Wild. Mr. Bernstein also serves as president of Bernstein-Rein Advertising.
Fingerpaint Marketing Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
Fingerpaint Marketing, an independent, full-service, national marketing agency, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. The agency commemorated this milestone with an employee get-together at 
JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort & Spa for four days of team-building, information sharing, and leisure activities.
“Fingerpaint has always made it a point to foster a people-first culture," says founder Ed Mitzen, a 2005 PharmaVOICE 100 honoree. “Just like a family would come together to celebrate a birthday, we wanted to ensure our entire team was in one place to celebrate what we have built and what we will continue to build, together."
John Nosta top Influencer
John Nosta, 2015 PharmaVOICE 100, was named as the top health tech influencer to follow in 2018. The list includes experts who cover major topics around health tech, such as: algorithms, analytics, artificial intelligence, big data, biotech, bioinformatics, blockchain, cyber security, deep learning, digital health, IoT, machine learning, nanotechnology, neural networks, privacy, robotics, robots, wearables, etc. According to IPFC Online, @JohnNosta has a 80.8 score, which is based on the Onalytica Top 100 Global Health Tech Influencers & Brands, Kcore Analytics Scores on Health Tech & Digital Health, and on Moz Social Authority and Klout Global Social Scores.
Wendy White Assumes Chief Patient Role
Wendy White, a 2017 PharmaVOICE Red Jacket honoree, has joined Vitrisa Therapeutics as chief patient officer, a newly created position. Vitrisa Therapeutics is a privately held, preclinical stage, biotech company focused on a proprietary suite of technologies to aid in the discovery and development of optimized ocular therapeutics with the potential to address the underlying mechanisms of vision loss in a wide range of ocular diseases. The company’s goal is to bring therapeutics that preserve or restore vision to people suffering from sight threatening ocular diseases, with an initial emphasis on orphan and rare pediatric ocular indications. Before joining Vitrisa, Ms. White ran her own consulting agency. She also serves as chair of Global Genes, one of the leading rare disease, nonprofit, patient advocacy organizations.world.
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Awards…
Astellas Named Outstanding Employer for those with Military Service
The Illinois Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) Awards program has selected Astellas for its highest honor — the Pro Patria Award — as the state’s top large employer over the past year. Astellas was recognized for demonstrating “exceptional support for national defense by adopting policies that make it easier for employees to participate in the National Guard and Reserve." Astellas Regional Sales Manager, Hematology, Matt Mercer, spoke at the recent ESGR event.
Astellas Pharma Canada has been recognized by Best Workplace in Canada, ranking 21st, along with Best in Large and Multinational Workplace, and a Best Workplace for Women in Canada.
GeoVax Recognized at Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards
GeoVax Labs, a biotechnology company developing human vaccines, was awarded Best Biotech at the World Vaccine Congress Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards.
These awards recognize the efforts, accomplishments, and positive contributions of companies and individuals in the vaccine industry. GeoVax was also an award finalist for Best Prophylactic Vaccine (for its novel Zika vaccine).
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Awarded by National Kidney Foundation
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing innovative medicines to people with kidney disease, has received the 2018 Corporate Innovator Award from the National Kidney Foundation. The award was established to recognize industry partners that advance the field of nephrology by addressing an unmet medical need.
