Pharma Exec Daily: Exploring IRA-Driven Formulary Pressure
TL/DR –
LEO Pharma has agreed to acquire dersimelagon from Tanabe Pharma for up to $435 million, BioMarin Pharmaceutical has acquired Alesta Therapeutics for $275 million upfront plus $215 million in milestones, and OmniAb has collaborated with Eli Lilly on ion channel discovery that could be worth up to $370 million in milestones. Rohit Tripathi, VP of industry strategy at RELEX, discusses tariff-driven input costs in the pharmaceutical supply chain, suggesting targeted resilience planning rather than stockpiling. Sybil Mead, VP of market access at Spherix Global Insights, predicts that almost 50% of payers will benchmark commercial rebates for non-negotiated drugs against Medicare’s reference prices, potentially doubling patient’s cost-sharing exposure.
Pharmaceutical Executive Daily: High-Profile Pharma Acquisitions and Insights into Tariff-Driven Costs
Welcome to your daily digest of major happenings in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sector, brought to you by Pharmaceutical Executive Daily. Today, we examine significant pharmaceutical deals, the impact of tariff-driven costs on the supply chain, and the effects of the IRA-driven formulary pressures on industries outside Medicare’s negotiated drug list.
Pharmaceutical Dealmaking Insights
Pharmaceutical deal-making has been active this week. LEO Pharma’s acquisition of Tanabe Pharma’s dersimelagon stands out, with the deal worth up to $435 million. Dersimelagon, an oral MC1R agonist, is meant for erythropoietic and X-linked protoporphyria treatments. In another notable transaction, BioMarin Pharmaceutical purchased Alesta Therapeutics for $275 million upfront, taking over the Phase I/IIA hypophosphatasia candidate ALE1. Additional payments up to $215 million hinge on reaching certain milestones. Learn more about these industry deals.
Other major deals include OmniAb’s ion channel discovery collaboration with Eli Lilly, which comes with the potential for up to $370 million in milestones. Moreover, Chugai Pharmaceutical has given GSK an exclusive worldwide license to AID351, an antibody targeting the dengue virus.
Assessing the Impact of Tariff-Driven Costs
Rohit Tripathi, RELEX’s vice president of industry strategy, manufacturing, and CPG, investigates who ultimately pays the increased costs driven by tariffs across the pharmaceutical supply chain. He argues that manufacturers cannot avoid tariff exposure simply by manufacturing drugs in the U.S. due to hidden upstream dependencies. These dependencies leave companies vulnerable, particularly those in the generics market, who typically operate on thin margins and find it more challenging to avoid passing on costs to consumers.
Tripathi suggests that rather than resorting to stockpiling reflexively, companies should strategically plan resilience around specific constraints like shelf life and cold chain limitations.
IRA-Driven Formulary Pressure Spreading Beyond Medicare
Sybil Mead, Spherix Global Insights’ vice president of market access, highlights how the Inflation Reduction Act’s maximum fair price mechanism is reshaping payer strategy beyond the ten drugs subject to Medicare negotiation. Mead notes that about 50% of payers now benchmark commercial rebates for non-negotiated drugs against Medicare’s reference prices. This shift from flat copays to coinsurance could potentially double patients’ cost-sharing exposure in the coming years. Therapeutic areas such as diabetes, dermatology, and pulmonology are experiencing the most formulary disruption, according to Mead.
Stay tuned to Pharmaceutical Executive Daily for more updates and in-depth analysis on the pharmaceutical industry. Visit PharmExec.com for more information.
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