Trending News Today: ICER Recommends Lower Price for MS Drug Siponimod

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) recommended that Novartis lower the price of its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug siponimod (Mayzent), Reuters reported. According to the article, ICER described the list price, which is $88,561, as “far out of line” compared with its benefits for patients. However, Novartis disputed the findings, saying that the feedback and recommendations it gave to ICER were not taken into account and that the group did not use the right comparisons to establish cost effectiveness, the article reported.

A new study suggests that patients with pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) face greater cognitive decline than patients who experience onset as adults, MD Magazine reported. According to the article, the researchers analyzed data from the Swedish MS Registry from April to August 2018 to compare levels of cognitive decline between patients with pediatric-onset MS and those with adult-onset disease. Overall, many of the younger patients appeared mostly stable, only to decline sharply within 5 years of follow-up or fail to acquire age-appropriate gains relative to their peers, the article reported.

On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services sent to the White House for review a proposal to lower certain drugs in Medicare by linking them to lower prices paid in other countries, The Hill reported. According to the article, President Trump previously proposed the idea in October, but it was in the early stages of the regulatory process at the time. The move to send the proposal to the White House for review indicates that the idea is moving forward, but it is unknown how long the process of the review will take, the article reported