Health Care Rounds

In this week’s episode, John reviews Novartis’ new gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, priced at more than $2.1 million. ICER, a nonprofit research institute that evaluates the cost effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, said Novartis’ price is within the upper bound of the organization’s value-based price benchmark range. Briefs include: A broad bipartisan draft health care legislation package containing dozens of provisions was recently released by the Senate Health Committee. Forcing oncology practices to take on downside risk in CMS’ Oncology Care Model in July could result in more than half of them owing the government. UnitedHealth Group pointed to price variations for diagnostic tests as a potential way to reduce overspending. Mallinckrodt plans to spin off its specialty generics business to shareholders. The FDA’s recent approval of Novartis’ Piqray (alpelisib). FDA clears a new wearable device to treat migraine. Biogen is scrapping its investigational treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and is cance