News Briefs: Kennedy Reveals 35 States Will Participate in Cell and Gene Therapy Model
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May 08, 2025
HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on April 25 revealed that 35 states signed up for CMS’s Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Access Model, Endpoints reported. The CGT model is set to launch this year and will include two high-cost sickle cell disease gene therapies that were approved in December 2023: Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel), and Bluebird Bio Inc., the manufacturer of Lyfgenia (lovotibeglogene autotemcel). Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and CRIPSR Therapeutics, the manufacturers of Casgevy, and Bluebird Bio Inc., the manufacturer of Lyfgenia, both agreed in December to participate in the model and strike outcomes-based agreements with CMS. Kennedy said that the number of states participating in the voluntary model was “unprecedented” and added it was a “real win-win” for states and sickle cell patients. The Trump administration in March canceled other CMS models, including the Medicare $2 Drug List that the Biden administration had proposed.
A judge in Mississippi placed a temporary restraining order on CVS Health Corp., GoodRx and Inside Rx, stopping them from forcing independent pharmacies to accept drug discount cards, the Magnolia Tribune reported. Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) said in a statement that “for years Mississippi’s independent pharmacies have been forced to take artificially low reimbursements because the PBMs have used their influence and leverage to effectively force non-negotiable contracts on them.” Inside Rx, a drug discount company, told the Magnolia Tribune that the allegations “are false” and said pharmacies are not required to accept the Inside Rx discount card.
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