Professional Affairs Recap: Summer 2024

Welcome to the first Professional Affairs blog! We plan on sharing a periodic post to recap some of the major news, journal articles, reports, and other publications from around the web that have come out since our last post. As this is our first blog, we’ll try to adequately cover the whirlwind that was July and early August 2024. If you ever see something you think our AMCP members would benefit from seeing, please email Professional Affairs and we’ll look into it for the next post! 

The biggest news of July was the release of the Federal Trade Commission’s Interim Report on Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Several FTC Commissioners concurred with the report, while another dissented, ultimately suggesting some differing opinions on whether the report was premature. Among the wide coverage and responses, this CVS Health report and Adam Fein’s response within Drug Channels stood out. View AMCP’s Legislative and Regulatory Position Statement on PBMs. 

GLP-1 agonists made the news nearly every day and we continue to hear from our members this is one of the main classes of medications they are focused on. Some highlights from the past month included: 

• This research article comparing semaglutide and tirzepatide that was published in JAMA Internal Medicine and has more than 130,000 views. Both drugs performed well, but more weight loss was seen with tirzepatide in a cohort study using electronic health record and claims data. Notably, there were some limitations, including that “patients in both groups may [have] receive[d] doses that are higher or lower than standard full doses.” 
• This research letter in JAMA Health Forum, highlighting “The number of semaglutide fills increased by 442% between January 2021 and December 2023.” 
• Prime Therapeutics and Magellan Rx Management released an abstract on GLP adherence and persistency. This was a follow-on study to the one-year findings released last July. They found that only 1 in 7 members was still on GLP-1 obesity therapy at the end of two years, and approximately only 17% of members were at least 80% adherent to their therapy during the two years. 
• Pharmaceutical Strategies Group (PSG) posted a GLP-1 infographic (email required). One interesting finding is that the number of plans that consider obesity a lifestyle condition is similar to the number that consider it a chronic condition. Their GLP-1 Resource Center is also helpful. 
• An authorized generic of liraglutide 1.8 mg (Victoza) launched, according to this press release. GoodRx shared a liraglutide-specific 101 on authorized generics. 

Outside the PBM and GLP space, the newest Managed Care Pharmacy Primer was published in the Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy (JMCP). This one is on the topics of copay accumulators, copay maximizers, and alternative funding programs. I appreciate the detailed examples to illustrate differences among program types. If you’re not familiar or need to catch up, check out the other JMCP Primers. 

And finally, notable drug approvals since the beginning of July included: 

• Afamitresgene autoleucel (afami-cel [Tecelra]), a gene therapy approved through the accelerated approval process for advanced synovial sarcoma.
• Donanemab-azbt (Kisunla) for early Alzheimer’s disease. 
• Deuruxolitinib (Leqselvi), a JAK inhibitor for alopecia areata. 
• Ustekinumab-ttwe (Pyzchiva), the third biosimilar for originator Stelara was approved with an expected launch date of February 2025. The product gained provisional determination for interchangeability that will take effect when the interchangeability exclusivity period expires for the first approved biosimilar (ustekinumab-auub [Wezlana]). 
• Eculizumab-aagh [Epysqli], a second biosimilar for originator Soliris was approved, with availability anticipated in March 2025. 

That’s all (that I have the mental capacity to handle) for this month! Let us know what you think of the format of these blog posts, if you have suggestions for articles, etc. to include, or if you have other feedback!

Steve Kheloussi, PharmD, MBA, FAMCP
Director, Professional Affairs
Published on August 23, 2024