US health department’s Office of Inspector General reviews its concerns with allowing remuneration from drug firms in value-based arrangements in latest report to Congress.

Institute for Clinical and Economic Review analysis of whether payers are providing ‘fair access’ to fairly priced drugs was hampered by a lack of transparency among payers, leading to calls for reform.

Chronic migraine and anti-inflammatory treatments were most often subject to step therapy, Tufts researchers found. Policies varied from payer to payer, raising concerns over the impact of shifting requirements for treating the same disease as patients move among insurers.

Pre-registration of study protocols will be voluntary and concerns with revealing proprietary information, among other issues, could be a deterrent to participation. But the developers of the registry hope that researchers will conclude the benefits of doing so outweigh the risks.

The most detailed US reporting requirements regarding prescription drug costs and coverage will target medicines reimbursed under the retail pharmacy benefit.

US government is paying Merck & Co. around $181 more per course of treatment for its oral antiviral for COVID-19, molnupiravir, than it is to Pfizer for its competing drug.