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To keep doctors current on medical issues, drug makers help pay for continuing education. Until now, though, industry has not had to report the value of these sessions to a federal database created in response to mounting concerns that such payments may unduly influence medical research or practice. That is expected to change next year, however, when a new reporting requirement and kicks in. And many physicians are pushing back. (Ed Silverman, 8/9)

Valeant's revenue and earnings fell short of Wall Street estimates in the second quarter, which would be disastrous news for most companies.But Valeant's miserable year and a nearly 90 percent share-price decline from a peak last August have lowered the bar inches off the ground for the embattled pharma company. Its shares rose 17 percent on Tuesday after management merely reaffirmed its full-year guidance for 2016, breaking a long string of forecast cuts. Valeant also said it had sold a real asset (Ruconest) for real money ($60 million up front) instead of just talking about it. It also intends to negotiate more wiggle room on its debt covenants. After a series of shambolic, share-price-crushing conference calls from management, this one was surprisingly competent. (Max Nisen, 8/9)

A few weeks ago, though, I saw a television commercial that dealt that process a setback. It was a 90-second ad for Opdivo that began with soaring music and shots of older people in warm sunlight, gazing upward at a building on which the words “A chance to live longer” were superimposed. The voice-over said, “Opdivo significantly increased the chance of living longer versus chemotherapy.” The wording may be a little clumsy, but the velvet-voiced narrator made his point, bolstered by actors portraying lung cancer patients playing with babies and watching Little League games.It would be incredibly uplifting if it weren’t so utterly misleading and exploitive. (Matt Jablow, 8/9)

The television commercial begins simply: “This is a legal alert for the users of Xarelto.” Lawyers, the narrator says, are reviewing claims that the blood-thinning drug can cause “severe bleeding or hemorrhaging, stroke or even death.” If affected, viewers are advised to call a number on the screen. “You may have a case,” the speaker intones. In 2015, lawyers spent $128 million to air 365,000 ads like this, which seek plaintiffs for lawsuits against drug and medical-device manufactures. In the first six months of this year, that number jumped to $85 million, or about 14 percent of all lawyer advertising dollars, according to X Ante, which tracks mass tort litigation advertising. And why not? These ads drum up business for firms. They can also scare patients to death. (Lisa A. Rickard, 8/5)

A promising new drug to treat hepatitis C, a liver disease afflicting as many as 150 million people worldwide, was recently introduced by Gilead Sciences Inc., a Foster City biopharmaceutical company. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, a 12-week treatment with the drug, Epclusa costs $74,760. That’s half a lifetime’s worth of income in Africa and Central Asia, the worst-affected areas. In the United States, for those with private insurance or Medicare or Medicaid, some of the cost will be reimbursed, and the drugmaker is providing a “coupon” for “eligible” patients to cut the price by 25 percent. (Andrew L. Yarrow, 8/4)

The health care industry is undergoing dramatic transformation as we shift from fee-for-service reimbursement to a fee-for-value payment system. This will promote the value and outcome of the health care services we deliver. We’re focused on providing the best care for the people we serve, measuring the efficiency of our healthcare delivery and striving to improve outcomes at a lower cost. At St. Vincent’s HealthCare and Ascension, the nation’s leading nonprofit health care system, we have embraced this transformation because it’s the right thing to do. (Tom VanOsdol, 8/8)

Pricing of and access to medication are handled in an insane manner in the United States. It has been said that between 20 and 30 percent of prescriptions are never filled, presumably because of cost or access issues. Comparing plans is nearly impossible, because drug tiers, co-pays, deductibles and coinsurance vary from plan to plan and drug to drug. Those with high drug costs are likely to fall into the dreaded “doughnut hole,” in which all pharmacy benefits go away, until you have reached an out-of-pocket limit of thousands of dollars. (8/7)