Look back at pharma news in week to January 18

Government affairs were the focus of pharma on both sides of the Atlantic last week. Drug prices remained top news in the USA, with the Democrats launching a sweeping investigation, while in the UK Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a historic and crushing defeat of her proposed Brexit deal, with significant implications for the pharmaceutical industry and patients. On the research front, Array and Pierre Fabre presented encouraging Phase III data on the triple combination colorectal cancer therapy -Braftovi, Mektovi and Erbitux. Regulatory news included a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommending approval of Amgen and UCB’s osteoporosis drug candidate Evenity, and another panel failing to reach agreement on the benefits of Lexicon Therapeutics and Sanofi’s diabetes candidate Zynquista.

Congressional investigation targets Pfizer, Novartis and J&J, among others, on prices

The new leader of the House Oversight Committee on Monday opened Congress' latest i nvestigation into prescription drug pricing, sending letters to 12 pharmaceutical companies requesting information and documents related pricing practices on 18 products. Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat, Maryland, has made confronting the pharmaceutical industry his top priority since becoming chairman of the Oversight Committee earlier this month, commented Andre Dunn on BioPharma Dive. Drug pricing will be the topic for the committee's first hearing, set for Tuesday, January 29. Cummings' investigation could suggest how one influential congressional committee will tackle the issue going forward.