Specialty Pharmacy

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — The increased availability of generics combined with CVS Caremark's generic dispensing rate of 77.4% helped reduce spending on traditional medications by 3.6% for the company's commercial clients, according to its newly released annual insights report, which reviews drug trend and highlights key issues in pharmacy care.

CVS Caremark's GDR is the result of two elements.  First, 2012 marked a high point in the flood of generic launches, with the estimated market value of brands that lost their patents in 2012 exceeding $35 billion. 

WASHINGTON — Legislation designed to limit the use of biosimilars has met defeat in Maryland.

NEW YORK — A desire to save money is driving younger and older adults to request cheaper drugs from their doctors, but it's also driving younger adults not to take their drugs as prescribed, according to a new study.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A majority of Americans say chronic pain ranks far below drug addiction as a major health problem, according to a new poll.

TAMPA, Fla. — The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy has named James Smeeding its first executive director, the group said Tuesday. The announcement was made during its first Specialty Pharmacy Conference in San Diego, which drew more than 500 participants.

Smeeding is the founder of the University of Texas College of Pharmacy's Center for Pharmacoeconomic studies and has worked for a variety of companies and organizations, including the TPG National Payor Roundtable, the Jestarx Group, Digital Health Dialog and others.

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — BioPlus Specialty Pharmacy will notify physicians within two hours whether a patient has been accepted for treatment, the company said.

BioPlus said the new "2-Hour Patient Acceptance Guarantee" program would let physicians know if their patients could be admitted pending insurance qualifications or would not be admitted and triaged to another pharmacy.

NORTH WALES, Pa. — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has launched a generic opioid medication for treating pain, the company said.

Teva announced the introduction of oxymorphone hydrochloride tablets.

The drug is a generic version of Endo Pharmaceuticals' Opana and will be available in the 5 mg and 10 mg strengths in bottles of 100 tablets.

NEW YORK — An experimental drug developed by AstraZeneca for rheumatoid arthritis produced mixed results in measurements of patients' conditions, according to results of a late-stage clinical trial.

AstraZeneca announced initial results of the phase-3 "OSKIRA-1" trial of fostamatinib, which it calls the first oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor in development for RA.