Biopharma is working on a reputation renaissance as the public looks to industry for treatments and vaccines for the COVID-19 epidemic and drug pricing concerns take a back seat.

As part of its efforts to preserve patient access to medicines amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia is planning to cap drug prices if increases of more than 30% are detected. It will also allow online sales of non-prescription drugs and may also tighten the rules on fake and substandard products. 

Despite a reprieve last summer from the Trump administration’s proposed drug price rebate rule, speakers at the 25th annual Pharmacy Benefit Manager Institute kept the focus on price transparency and talked up new ways to manage drug costs for patients in need of treatment. 

Early versions of US Congress's coronavirus relief bill contained a number of policies that would have benefited drug firms, but they didn't make it into the final bill. However, the $2 trillion package does provide pharmaceutical companies with relief from the threat of drug pricing reform until after the 2020 elections.

Intellectual property rights are under the microscope as countries prepare to provide affordable and timely access to pandemic technologies.

Senate and House versions of a pending coronavirus stimulus package take off the table a key legislative vehicle lawmakers planned to use to push for bipartisan drug pricing reform until at least after the 2020 elections, signaling a potential reprieve for the pharmaceutical industry. 

Sanofi’s Lantus stands alone as the only insulin product still listed in the ‘Orange Book’ post-transition because it is referenced in Mylan/Biocon’s pending 505(b)(2) application for insulin glargine; the FDA said it stands ready to review biosimilar and interchangeable applications that reference the newly ‘deemed’ biologic products.

The R&D based pharmaceutical industry would welcome changes to guidelines that will operationalize controversial new pricing regulations in Canada but industry experts say more is needed.

Canadian pricing body, the PMPRB, is considering relaxing screening criteria for drugs that will be subject to stricter price controls and extending grace periods for conforming with new rules.