News Briefs: Dept. of Justice to appeal 340B ruling | January 13, 2022

New drugs are becoming less expensive to bring to market and more profitable at launch, according to a new Deloitte Ltd. white paper. “Cost to bring an asset to market has declined over the past three years, as peak sales forecasts increase,” the report says. “The combined cohort’s average cost to develop an asset was $2,006 million, a decrease of $370 million from 2020....This decrease in 2021 compared to 2020 is due mainly to the overall increase in the number of assets in the late-stage pipeline.” However, the report also notes that this figure is “an increase of $710 million from 2013.” In addition, the cycle time for drug development has increased, especially since the start of the pandemic.

New Hampshire is the latest state to settle its suit against Centene Corp, accepting $21 million from the Medicaid-focused carrier. More than a dozen states have sued the health insurer, accusing Centene of mismanaging their Medicaid programs’ pharmacy benefits. As with the other settlements, in the New Hampshire agreement Centene denied it was liable for any wrongdoing or violations of federal or state statute. The insurer has paid out more than $241 million in settlements with Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi and Ohio out of the $1.25 billion it set aside earlier this year to settle such suits.