���ϳԹ���

The Trump administration's plan to ease the financial hit of prescription drugs prices for Medicare beneficiaries will cost taxpayers another $177 billion over 10 years, congressional budget experts said on Thursday. The estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office could affect prospects for one of the administration's centerpiece proposals to make prescription drugs more affordable for patients. President Donald Trump and leading lawmakers of both parties want to act before the 2020 elections. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/2)

The figure is slightly below the $196 billion in new spending over the next decade that the CMS' Office of the Actuary predicted earlier this year. The Trump administration proposed replacing the safe harbor for rebates from prosecution under the anti-kickback statute with a new one for discounts at the point of sale, by January 2020. The comment period closed last month. (King, 5/2)

“Rather than lowering list prices, manufacturers would offer the renegotiated discounts” in another form, said the CBO, which performs budgetary and economic analysis for Congress. The proposal would increase spending for Medicare, the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled, by about $170 billion over 10 years. It would raise federal spending for Medicaid, the shared state-federal health program for low-income people, by about $7 billion in the same period, according to the CBO. (Edney, 5/2)

Sometimes, small companies can give regulators the biggest headaches. Take Immunomedics (IMMU). Last August, executives at the aspiring drug maker locked horns with investigators from the Food and Drug Administration, who sought to examine records pertaining to a quality-control problem at a company facility, but were denied access to all of the records. Why? The company cited attorney-client privilege. (Silverman, 5/2)

Cigna Corp. raised its earnings projection for the year, saying first-quarter results showed strong performance for its health-insurance and pharmacy-benefits businesses. Cigna’s first-quarter profit rose by 50%, reflecting its $54 billion acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co., which closed in December. The earnings beat analysts’ expectations. The company became the latest managed-care firm to report strong results, though share prices in the industry have been dragged down by investor concern about policy issues, including drug rebates and some Democrats’ discussion of universal government coverage. (Wilde Mathews and Chin, 5/2)

Venture capital dollars are flooding into biotech, totaling $8.5 billion in 2017 alone. But there’s no one way to fund a startup. Biotech’s boom has given rise to disparate funding and investment models within the venture capital world, and those nuances have an outsized impact on exactly what kinds of scientific advancements will progress, what kinds will flounder, and how fast any potential treatments can come to market. (Sheridan, 5/3)

CVS Health is closing 46 of its stores, saying the locations were "underperforming" as the drugstore chain continues to shift more of its retail presence toward health care services. One store in Michigan, at 10301 Woodward Ave. in Detroit, is on the list. The store has already closed. Phone calls to the pharmacy are being redirected to another location in Highland Park. The move will cost CVS about $135 million as a "store rationalization charge" in its first-quarter earnings report. (Bomey, 5/2)