As the COVID-19 pandemic inches closer to its endemic phase, Moderna and Pfizer are gearing up to nearly quadruple the price of their mRNA-based vaccines. This has drawn concern and ire from politicians in the UK and US, with four members of the UK Parliament penning a letter urging them to […]
US Senators Blast Moderna for COVID Vaccine Price Hikes
Moderna is drawing heat from some US lawmakers and political leaders over its plans to spike prices of its COVID-19 vaccine to $110-130 per shot. The planned price hike, which is higher than the original price increases floated last fall, was lambasted by senators like Bernie Sanders (I-VT), […]
Millions of Medicaid Beneficiaries Likely to Lose Coverage When Continuous Enrollment Ends
Medicaid enrollees must reapply every year in a complicated process fraught with hidden pitfalls that could sink one’s coverage. This process was suspended during the pandemic, but the provision’s end date of March 31st is fast approaching. As a result, millions of beneficiaries are set to lose […]
Pfizer and China in Deadlock Over High Paxlovid Price Amid COVID Surge
As China struggles with a massive surge in cases following the end of its COVID Zero policy, the nation’s officials are at odds with Pfizer over the cost of its COVID-19 pill Paxlovid. Critics of big pharma argue that the middle of an outbreak is not the time to be playing hardball, but […]
Moderna Eyes ~$120 COVID-19 Vaccine Price Tag
Moderna is looking to price its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine between $110 and $130 per shot, according Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel in an interview on Monday. The US government currently pays a discounted price of $26 per dose, but as the contract and the public health emergency comes to an end, most […]
Report Finds Medicare Part B Lab Test Spending Jumped $1.3 Billion in 2021
A newly released report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that Medicare Part B spending on lab testing jumped by $1.3 billion in 2021 from 2020. This 17% increase brought the total spending on laboratory tests to $9.3 billion. A key driver of the spike comes from mass utilization of […]
ICER Cuts Price Recommendation for Paxlovid
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has issued a change to its suggested US price for Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral drug for COVID-19, dropping it to between $563 and $906. The institute formerly recommended a price range of $3,600 to $5,800 for a round of treatment. The change was made […]
Real-World Data Shows Bivalent COVID-19 Boosters Reduce Hospitalizations and Urgent Care Utilization for Older Adults
Two recently published studies have found that inoculation with the new bivalent COVID-19 mRNA boosters by Moderna and Pfizer reduce the rate of hospitalization and urgent care visits. Older adults were particularly protected by the shots, which boasted an efficacy against hospitalization of 83% and […]
EMA Emergency Task Force Recommends Bivalent COVID-19 Vaccines for Initial Inoculations
An Emergency Task Force (ETF) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced that it supports the use of bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for primary inoculations. The vaccines, which contain mRNA from the original SARS-CoV-2 and the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 strains, were previously only used as […]
Real-World Data Study Supports Use of Paxlovid for COVID-19 in High-Risk Patients
A newly-published real-world study in the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy finds new data supporting the use of Paxlovid in high-risk COVID-19 patients. The retrospective study followed patients administered the combination therapy at a single medical center, finding that the […]
