Look back at pharma news in the week to September 13

Denmark’s Novo Nordisk was in the news last week, first with the launch of its own generic NovoLog, aiming to help provide cheaper insulin in the USA, and second with a mixed report from US cost-effectiveness watchdog the ICER evaluating the diabetes care giant’s oral semaglutide. On the research front, adding to the litany of Alzheimer disease failures, were disappointing Phase III results for Neurotrope’s bryostatin-1, but Acadia Pharmaceuticals pleased investors with positive trial readings for its dementia drug Nuplazid. Also attracting attention was Sanofi’s decision to terminate its four-year collaboration with Lexicon Pharma on the diabetes drug Zynquista.

Novo Nordisk joins insulin discount party, but prices still unlikely to fall

Novo Nordisk is joining the generic insulin party that Eli Lilly started and Sanofi joined back in April, noted Christiana Friedman on the Seeking Alpha blog. Introduced last week,  Novo Nordisk’s in-house generic equivalents0 (what Novo calls “follow-on brands”) of NovoLog and NovoLog Mix will be available starting January 2020 at about a 50% discount. This is similar to what Lilly announced back in March and which in May started to sell a generic version of its own Humalog, or insulin lispro, at the same 50% discount for the uninsured. Sanofi for its part has introduced a $99 a month program for the uninsured that covers 10 boxes of insulin pens and 10 10mL vials per month.