Teva Pharmaceuticals has recalled over 580,000 bottles of the blood pressure medication prazosin hydrochloride following concerns they may contain a potentially carcinogenic chemical, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Texas.
- Connecticut: Cigna's Evernorth division has launched a new rebate-free pharmacy benefit model for Express Scripts. According to Cigna, the rebate-free model is based on three core elements: transparency, a better patient experience, and greater support for community pharmacies. Rather than relying on post-purchase rebates, the new model will apply negotiated discounts upfront. This will allow patients to pay the lowest available price for a drug, whether it is Evernorth's negotiated rate, a copay, a cash price, or a direct-to-consumer offer. The rebate-free model could reduce the monthly cost of brand-name prescriptions by an average of 30% for patients with high-deductible plans, Evernorth said. Cigna plans to implement the new model for full-insured members in 2027 and all Evernorth PBM clients in 2028. "Pharmacy benefit managers have successfully driven down costs for Americans with generics and now with biosimilars," said Adam Kautzner, president of Evernorth Care Management and Express Scripts. "In this new era of pharmacy benefits, we're creating more choice for Americans by lowering the costs of expensive brand-name drugs while driving accelerated adoption of generics and biosimilars." (Jeffries, Becker's Hospital Review, 10/27; Minemyer, Fierce Healthcare, 10/27)
- New Jersey: Last month, Teva Pharmaceuticals recalled over 580,000 bottles of the blood pressure medication prazosin hydrochloride due to concerns that they may contain a potentially carcinogenic chemical. In a recall order posted on its website, FDA said it classified the affected lot of medications as a Class II risk since some of the bottles may contain nitrosamine impurities that may be potentially carcinogenic. These chemicals can form during the manufacturing or storage process. FDA advised patients using any of the recalled medications to contact their healthcare providers or pharmacies with any questions. However, the agency cautioned that "stopping your medicine may be more harmful to your health than continuing to take the recalled medicine" in some cases. (Bartiromo, The Hill, 10/31; CBS News, 10/31)
- New York/Texas: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton that aimed to enforce a ruling against Margaret Carpenter, a New York physician who was accused of prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas. Previously, a judge in Texas ordered Carpenter to pay a $113,000 fine and prohibited her from continuing to send abortion medication to Texas. However, acting clerk of Ulster County Taylor Bruck has refused to accept Texas' order, citing New York's shield law, which aims to protect healthcare providers who prescribe abortion medications and send them to patients in states with bans. In his ruling, Ulster County Judge David Gandin said that because "the medical services Dr. Carpenter rendered are legal in New York State," her conduct "falls squarely within the definition of 'legally protected health activity'" and were "the precise type of conduct [the shield law] was designed to protect." Texas has 30 days to appeal the ruling, but so far has not shared plans to do so. (Belluck, New York Times, 10/31; Fields, The Hill, 11/1)
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