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Costco has become the latest retailer to partner with Novo Nordisk to offer Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide) to cash-paying patients at a significant discountSpecifically, the collaboration is geared toward uninsured or underinsured patients with a valid prescription, who will be able to obtain Wegovy or Ozempic from Costco at an out-of-pocket price of $499 per month Without insurance, Wegovy comes with a wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of $1,349.02 per month, according to NAVLIN Price & Access Data. Ozempic, meanwhile, costs around $1,068.84 per month
Pharmaceutical stocks have responded positively to the Most Favored Nation (MFN) drug pricing deal struck between Pfizer and the Trump administration this week, suggesting that the agreement and others to follow could have a limited impact on drug pricing The low prices already paid by Medicaid for many brand-name products suggest that the adoption of MFN pricing within the program could be less significant than headlines imply. Additionally, current direct-to-patient (DTP) models do not work with insurance and are largely available to cash-paying patients only. If TrumpRx operates in a similar way, as early reports suggest, the government-run DTP model is unlikely to have a big impact on patient affordability. However, additional details could change this assessmentPfizer also committed to not launching new drugs at a higher price in the U.S. than in other, similarly wealthy countries. There is no cap on the launch price overall, and the Trump administration’s emphasis on “equalizing” the prices paid for drugs in the U.S. with prices paid in other countries is intended to raise prices abroad rather than significantly lowering them in the U.S. However, questions remain about whether increased list prices abroad will impact final prices after confidential discounts and rebates. Other governments have so far pushed back against the idea of paying more for branded drugs and are unlikely to easily concede to higher prices to offset discounts in the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration has reached a deal with Pfizer to lower the cost of the company's prescription drugs in the U.S.Specifically, the voluntary agreement requires Pfizer to offer certain products at Most Favored Nation (MFN) pricing through the state Medicaid programs. The company has also committed to setting prices on new drugs launched in the U.S. at no more than prices in other wealthy countries. Pfizer will also provide certain of its medications at a significant discount through a new, government-run direct-to-patient (DTP) model called TrumpRx. In exchange, Pfizer will be exempted from tariffs for three years President Trump noted that his administration is working with other major pharmaceutical companies to secure similar agreements
At the ISPOR Real-World Evidence Summit 2025 in Japan, Professor Mie Azuma of Eisai showcased the company's recent Leqembi (lecanemab) submission to illustrate how methodological choices regarding caregiver utilities and long-term care costs can yield varying cost-effectiveness results, leading to Japan’s current framework struggling to capture these broader societal impacts.Japan has been discussing since 2023 whether its CEA framework should incorporate long-term care expenditures into its analyses. In Leqembi’s case, both “public healthcare” and “public healthcare plus long-term care” perspectives were explored in parallel during the CEA process. However, Chuikyo ultimately concluded that the CEA should exclude public long-term care costsProfessor Azuma explained that Eisai's submission treated caregiver values in the same way as patient utility, applying absolute values. In contrast, the external review group (ERG), working with the Center for Outcomes Research and Economic Evaluation for Health (C2H), used values only from the “next worst” health state, thereby accounting for the incremental burden as patients moved through disease stages - under the ERG’s more conservative assumptions, QALY gains from Leqembi were much lower
Speaking at ISPOR RWE Summit in Tokyo, Japan, Chris Wu, Daiichi Sankyo, considered how RWE is influencing clinical practice and industry dynamics in ChinaWu drew on his experience in China, pointing to examples in lung cancer management, where real-world cohort studies have supported clinical recommendations and given healthcare providers more confidence in applying therapies beyond the narrow parameters of clinical trials“Real-world evidence can give physicians more confidence to use the drugs,” Wu noted, adding that such data can also inform safety monitoring, dosing adjustments, and chronic disease management in ways not captured in pivotal studies. However, challenges remain
Speaking at ISPOR RWE Summit in Tokyo, Japan, Jing Wang-Silvanto, PhD, Senior Director, Global HEOR at Astellas Pharma, suggested AI could be the answer to unlocking the “iceberg of evidence,” which she believes remains underutilized In RWE specifically, she noted that AI can be used to assist clinical trial design and planning, post-marketing safety, evidence synthesis and HEOR, among other usesHowever, “the pharma industry needs to act faster and give more strategic investment to scale AI applications in RWE to maximize the ROI of AI, and to address key challenges within pharma. In turn, this will benefit the healthcare ecosystem.” At present, she believes the current level of adoption in pharma is “emerging pilot level” rather than having measurable impacts on P&L and productivity at scale
At the ISPOR RWE Summit 2025 in Tokyo, Dr. Yoshiaki Uyama from Japan’s PMDA highlighted the rising role of Real-World Evidence (RWE) in Asia Pacific’s (APAC) healthcare decisions. While it is gaining traction, challenges like data quality and privacy remainDr. Uyama cited a Japanese case where Real-World Data (RWD) from patient registries helped compare clinical trial results for a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) combination therapy. Using RWD as an external control increased confidence in the treatment's efficacy and was instrumental in gaining approval when trials were tough to conductTo further RWE adoption in Asia Pacific, Uyama called for better patient registries and more international collaboration. He sees these as key steps to addressing hurdles like interoperability and potential biases while ensuring RWD can effectively complement traditional clinical data in decisions
Speaking at the ISPOR Real-World Evidence Summit 2025 in Japan, Sallie Pearson, PhD, from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, said that in Australia, “there was a strong appetite to use [Real-World Evidence (RWE)], but it's not being used in a routine way, in any way.” From Dr Pearson’s perspective, building public trust and social license is essential for the use of real-world data, and communities are generally supportive if they understand the benefitsThe Australian government is set to begin implementing key recommendations from the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Review Interim Report, released a year earlier, on reforming Australia’s HTA system. The review emphasized the growing importance of digital health and RWD, and recommends enhancing timely access to high-quality RWD and RWE to support decision-making across HTA processes
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and the UK government have agreed to extend the deadline for companies to give notice if they intend to leave the 2024 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing, Access and Growth (VPAG)Under the revised timeline, companies now have until October 31, 2025 to submit their notice to exit the scheme, four weeks later than the original end-of-September deadline"This change has been agreed upon to give companies more time to consider their decisions in the context of ongoing global uncertainty affecting the life sciences sector," explains ABPI. "However, the change to this year's deadline should be considered entirely separate and does not affect future years of VPAG"
Speaking at the ISPOR Real-World Evidence Summit 2025 in Japan, Luying Zhang, PhD, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, shared how the use of Real-World Evidence (RWE) is growing in decision-making for National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) Dr. Zhang showcased trilaciclib as the first NRDL-listed drug approved using RWE, backed by a Hainan-based study. She also shared how a submission for savolitinib, a lung cancer drug with complex dosing, used RWE to fill critical gaps for NRDL approval in 2021Dr Zhang explained that, despite the above examples showing that RWE has been taken into consideration as supplementary evidence in the NRDL development and price negotiation process, there is a lack of reassessment of RWE after a two-year agreement period for NRDL negotiations. She argued that by using EHR and cohort data, the RWE for innovative drugs can be further expanded to support NRDL decision-making. However, she suggested that further development of RWE guidelines is needed to enhance the quality of the studies
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