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A congressional effort to stiffen regulations on pharmacy benefit managers may not be dead after all. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and ranking member Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) aim to attach measures their panel has already approved to a spending bill Congress must pass by next Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown, they said at a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday. (McAuliff, 3/14)

Lawmakers say the next package of bills, which would fund the departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), State and Homeland Security (DHS) as well as foreign operations, will be a much heavier lift because of deep partisan divisions over President Biden’s immigration policy. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told The Hill on Tuesday that the DHS funding bill is “the most challenging one,” an assessment shared by other senators. (Bolton, 3/13)

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has repeatedly gone after Gilead since 2021, accusing the company of taking “unlawful” actions to avoid offering its HIV drugs at a discount and highlighting an increase in the pay of CEO Daniel O'Day. In the latest attacks, AHF advocates protested outside two hotels in Miami where Andy Dickinson, chief financial officer at Gilead, and Kite executive Cindy Perettie were talking to analysts this week. (Taylor, 3/14)

Pharmaceutical maker Lilly added Amazon Pharmacy as the second online pharmacy option in its LillyDirect service, allowing patients to receive free delivery of certain diabetes, obesity and migraine medications. (Godt, 3/14)

German pharmaceutical company Bayer is expanding its U.S. pharma business significantly, despite corporate turmoil and pricing pressures that have led many in the drug industry to bemoan the potential end of the American biotech innovation boom. (DeAngelis, 3/15)

Active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturer Noramco has announced the launch of Noramco Group, a North American pharmaceutical supply chain services provider. It integrates the capabilities of two Noramco subsidiaries: drug product contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) Halo Pharma, and Purisys. The strategic move aims to address the escalating drug shortages and quality concerns in the US by improving supply chain performance and increasing domestic production. (3/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: When Copay Assistance Backfires On Patients

In early 2019, Jennifer Hepworth and her husband were stunned by a large bill they unexpectedly received for their daughter’s prescription cystic fibrosis medication. Their payment had risen to $3,500 from the usual $30 for a month’s supply. That must be a mistake, she told the pharmacy. But it wasn’t. It turned out that the health insurance plan through her husband’s job had a new program in which it stopped applying any financial assistance they received from drugmakers to the family’s annual deductible. (Appleby, 3/15)